Chapter 90: Together
DPOV
~A Few Hours Ago~
Approaching Kat, she was leaning against the car she came in with her dad. Rick had gone to talk to Maggie, the King and a few others. While he was talking to them, I decided to keep Kat company. "Hey," I greeted her, alerting her I was approaching.
When her eyes found mine, a small smile began to grow on her face. Shit, I really missed that smile. "Hey," I greeted her back.
Stopping in front of her, our bodies were face to face as the distance between us was very small. None of it was like what it was before. We're stronger now, because she's here and because our baby is growing inside of her. "Are you sure you're up for this?" I asked her.
A look crossed her face, telling me that she was definitely up for it and that I needed to stop asking her. "Alright...alright," I surrendered to her glaring, letting her win this fight while I nodded at her.
Taking a step closer to her, my head lowered a little so I could look directly into her eyes. "You know I'm goin' to do everything I possibly can to protect you and our baby, right?" I asked her. Her eyes searched mine as her smile only grew.
Her head bowed, as she brushed hair away from her face. The clothes she was wearing, was her ready for war and keeping herself warm too. A hoody, a jacket, her combat boots and her hair up in a pony tail. Although, some strands of hair hadn't gone into the high pony tail but the strands that fell, complimented her features all the more.
Never until I had a really good look at Kat, did I ever notice it was true what people said about pregnant women. Kat is glowing. When Kat's eyes met mine again as she bit her lip and let her smile illuminate her features all the more, I couldn't keep my eyes away from her.
"I know," Kat said after a little sigh escaped her. "And I'm going to do everything I can to protect you, too," Kat told me she'd be looking out for me. Watching her take a step closer, I straightened up a little and stayed very still in my spot. "You know that, right?" Kat asked me, her eyes searching mine as she was serious in her words.
Hearing her words, made my heart skip a little at the thought of her doing all she could to look after me, even if it meant getting herself hurt. I won't and can't let that happen. Not for me. "If it comes down to either you or me, protect yourself first, okay?" I pleaded with her.
My eyes were on hers, serious as the thought alone, of her risking her life for mine, was one of my biggest fears. It was only amplified with her now vulnerable and carrying our child inside of her. "Okay, but it won't come down to that, I know it won't," Kat reassured me, her hand went up to cup one side of my face in her palm.
"And this baby..." Kat had said, as without warning, without realising, she gently took my hand and rest it over her stomach. Over her little bump. "It needs its father, it needs you to be there for it, too," Kat told me as my eyes trailed up her frame to meet her gaze.
My hand over our unborn child, her hand on my face, her eyes on me and only me, I knew this was it. This was all I had ever wanted but never thought would ever be a reality. Leaning in, I rest our foreheads together but it was Kat that initiated the kiss.
It was slow, calm and I was giving it my every emotion as it poured out of me. This, it was my way of showing her how much she meant to me. How the words she'd just said to me, meant the world to me. This kiss, it was my way of proving to her that I loved her, even if I still found it hard to say those words to her. I felt it and I wanted her to feel it too.
Just as we had pulled apart to gaze into each other's eyes with her love pouring out of them, I was trapped in her stare. "Sorry to interrupt," Rick's voice politely apologised once he cleared his throat.
Breaking apart, slowly, our hands were no longer grasping one another, my hand no longer resting on our little bump. Our bodies no longer facing each other, but facing Rick who glanced at us with a small smile on his lips.
His eyes proved to us he was pleased to see me and Kat back to the way we used to be, but stronger. "Can I have a moment with my daughter?" Rick asked me politely, seeking a moment alone with his daughter.
Nodding, I chewed on my bottom lip and tried to pull the words out of me. "Yeah," I agreed to it. "Sure," I spoke softly before I took a few steps back, taking my crossbow, I went back to my bike and let Rick and Kat have their moment alone.
PRESENT DAY...DPOV
The plan was going in the right direction, as so far, everything was going down with no hitches, other than Gabriel not meeting us at the roundevouz for the next half of the plan. As we left, we got ready, I was hiding behind a car and shot at the guard at his post, using my crossbow.
Once the guy fell, I went to retrieve my bolt and saw Rick and Kat push open the gates. As they ran ahead, I followed behind and watched as Rick took the lead, while Kat stayed in the middle. Where she had to be. This way, we can both protect her. This was then the moment the others began driving in to the outpost.
Ready for all of us to take down the members inside of it, as it was mine, Rick's and Kat's job to head inside and find the guns with a group of others. This way, we could beat them and clear them out. All while Aaron and the others were to distract them by taking down as many of them outside as possible. Leading everyone, away from the building as we were to go inside of it.
That, was the plan. Or so it was going to be.
KPOV
While myself, Daryl, my dad and the group we had with us were waiting for the signal. The signal was to distract the others as we were to find a way around the other side. Where only two guards were supposed to be.
My heart was pounding, as I knew that any small, wrong move, was going to cost something and someone big. Either me, my father or my partner. My eyes focused on the guys, as we waited for the signal. We can do this. I need to have faith in that. We can do this. I know we can.
It's going to be something quick, something easy. It's go in, get the guns, take them out and go home.
DPOV
While we hid with the group, waiting for the signal as the others drove up to get to the point where we needed them to be, we were at the opposite end. Waiting to strike, I had glanced briefly over to Kat, but she was focused and ready.
Her eyes showing the kind of determination that one needed to fight. But I'm going to keep her safe. I have to. It's my job to protect her now. It's not by choice now, it's by automatic decision now. Now that she's carrying my child and heart with her. I will keep her safe.
RPOV
Squinting, I made sure to keep a good look out on the two men we were hiding from, as we were waiting, waiting for the signal for us to strike. Glancing around, everyone was ready, everyone had their guns close to them and as we waited, I could see they were all anticipating going in.
Daryl, his eyes would drift to my daughter, but Kat's eyes were glued on the men ahead. She's ready to fight if she has to. But this is a mission, not a fight. I'm going to protect her and my grandchild at any cost. I won't let anything bad happen to her or my grandchild.
As I controlled my breathing, I focused on our targets, waiting for the signal, for the right moment to move forward. I'm ready. I have to be.
KPOV
As we waited, the second we heard the shots being fired, I knew it was Aaron and our crew hitting the outpost we were at, having them try to pin them in, until we found the guns and could take them out from behind, or to wait until their turned friends killed them all. Whichever came first, that was our plan. Meanwhile, the moment I heard shots being fired, I slipped off my bow and my arrow from my quiver.
Watching out, I kept my bow low, as to not attack just yet but waited for my dad to give us the signal as Daryl too, took his bolt out to slip it into his crossbow. We're ready. All we need to do is wait for-
My thoughts were cut short. "Move out," dad ordered as he looked to the group behind us, following Daryl's lead, we both came up at the front and blocked the others behind us. Inching closer until we got to the doors where the two guards were. We've got this.
DPOV
While we approached, myself and Kat stayed close to each other, she was trailing only a few steps behind me, as I shielded her to protect her in case either of us got spotted. As we got closer, I could hear the guys talking through the walkie. "I can hear the shooting," the guy holding the walkie-talkie said.
The static crackles as a female voice said back "Stay where you are. Do not say another word," the voice had instructed as I looked on. Aiming my crossbow up, we were as close as we could get without being detected.
Giving her a nod, she nods back and that was when we both let our arrows fly. Kat's target was the one on the left, while mine was the one on the right. As their bodies thud onto the ground, Rick took the lead and opened the door for us.
Kat took Rick's left, while I took Rick's right as the rest followed behind us. Whistling, they all entered and we kept a look out as we walked the halls. So far, it all looked empty and the gunfire continues in the distance from where we stood.
Rick was the one leading us down the halls, but Kat was the one who memorised it all. Coming to a stop, we all stood together and kept a look out while Rick would give us instructions. "You signal if they're already inside," Rick told the others behind us. "We'll be there," Rick reassured them we'd get here as soon as we could.
I was eager to get this over and done with, to keep Kat safe and to do this the smart way, a way that Kat wouldn't get harmed in any of this. "Come on. Let's find them guns," I encouraged to Kat and Rick as we walked down the hall while the group behind us split up to cover all the grounds.
RPOV
Walking down the halls, there was nothing, stopping in a huge hall as I took out a map. I was referring to Kat's notes, but eventually, I knew that the guns weren't in the spot I was in, but rather, far above my head. Or so it had to be, because the map, wasn't playing out like it should.
Hearing footsteps approaching, double footsteps, I went to raise my gun and gasped when I saw it was Daryl, followed by Kat. Daryl's walk was calm as he passed me, while Kat looked a little shocked to see me pull a gun on her.
"Ain't on this floor," Daryl growled, a little angered with the fact that perhaps, the guns were moved and that Dwight didn't update us on it. So far, Kat and Dwight have been right about everything.
"Only option is up," I said as I lowered my gun and gave my daughter a slightly apologetic look before glancing over to Daryl.
Daryl was keeping his back to me, his eyes focused on the door beside us. Kat too had glanced at the doors. "High ground. Good cover," Kat figured this reason to be a good one as to why they'd store their guns up there.
Especially, the heavy ones. "Yeah, I'd put them up there, too," I agreed with my daughter as I pushed the notes back into my pocket.
"Stairs," Daryl pointed to us as he went to try and open them, already figuring out a route to get to the top floor. Removing a chair, before he tried to open it, when it was locked. The door began rattling as Daryl tried kicking it down. "They locked it tight," Daryl said once he finally gave up.
The door simply wasn't budging and it must have been locked tight with a key. "They must know we're coming for them," I said as I looked around, trying to find any other way we could open the door.
Daryl joined me as I began frantically looking for a key. "What now?" Daryl asked me, stood in front of me, instead of helping me. Papers were flying, books, everything but nothing was hiding a key.
"There is an elevator..." Kat softly said, as she pointed in the direction of where the elevator was. But there was bound to be no electricity here. Well...I guess it is one way up.
KPOV
As the men in my life climbed before me, Daryl was the one to climb all the way to the very top and open up the doors for us to walk out onto the floor we reached. Tossing his crossbow onto the floor, he pulled himself up and dad took Daryl's hand to climb up, too.
When it was me, both men held their hands out for me, taking both when I could, they helped me up to my feet and we all panted from the climb we just suffered through. I am never. Ever. Doing something like that again.
Walking out of the little platform, the guys got their weapons and went towards the light, to where the halls were to be. Removing my bow from around my torso, I got ready to walk out with them. Taking out an arrow from my quiver, I slipped it into my bow and got ready to shoot.
As dad and Daryl went back to back, I stayed in the middle and looked both ways, making sure no one was in our lines of sight. "Last floor. The guns have gotta be up here," dad panted as Daryl lowered his weapon but I kept mine up.
"You said they'd be here," Daryl whispered out a growl to me.
I knew how he'd been with Dwight, knew of all the bad stuff and how he hated Dwight. I hated what he did to Denise to try to get to Daryl, but he was the one helping us. Dwight helped me to escape, even if he played a very little part to it. "Everything else Dwight helped us with is working," I defended Dwight.
This, only seemed to anger Daryl a little futher. "That guy's a piece of shit," Daryl growled as he commented his thoughts about Dwight while his eyes went to focus on the hall he had focused on.
Dad looked to the both of us, as I stared down the hall he was no longer looking down on. "Those guns get to the Sanctuary, they could cut through those walkers and free up an exit," dad was trying to pull us back into the mission.
To put our heads back to where they should be. "We'll go faster if we split up. Kat, you stay close to Daryl," dad instructed. When I went to open my mouth to protest, but he stopped me. "That's an order," dad's voice was stern.
I knew that dad only wanted someone to be protecting me, in case anything bad happened. "There might still be some of them up here protecting the guns," dad was telling us to stay alert, seeing as we felt like we weren't alone.
"I find the M4's, you two find 'em, we use them, hit the courtyard right then and there," dad instructed on what was going to happen next.
Daryl nodded, as he nudged my dad a little. "End this quick," was the last thing Daryl said to my dad before he made his move down the hall. Following Daryl closely, I kept an eye out for any company we might of had.
DPOV
Sneaking down halls, with Kat watching my back, both of us kept each other safe. Kept each other alert as we looked into different rooms, finding bedrooms, lounges, storage's of food and all kinds of things. Most of the rooms we found, weren't anything that we were looking for.
Finding a door that was locked, I whistled quietly to get her attention. Nodding, she came up beside me and when I kicked the door down, it swung open wide and revealed no one in direct sight. As we began going deeper into the room, Kat's footsteps were slower than mine as we entered what appeared to be an infirmary.
Glancing to Kat, I nodded as the door began to shut, my fingertips guiding it to not bang, to not alert anyone that we were in fact, in here. As we began walking around the room, we stayed quiet as our weapons were up.
Eventually, Kat was no longer beside me, as I went to inspect a room that was at the far back. A small path lead me straight towards it. Maybe the guns are in there or...someone is hiding in there. Kat had lowered her weapon as she inspected a cabinet in the far back of the room, near the door.
When I saw no one was in the room with us, I slowly lowered my crossbow slightly. Opening the door, once I got to it, my crossbow was up. Just in case. But when I was met with an empty room, I lowered my crossbow.
My eyes fell lower, stopping on a cuff that was on a pipe, reminding me a little of Merle and how he'd been left on a roof. Then, my eyes travelled further down, to a can of dog food stuffed into a sandwich.
This was a cell...
My bottom lip quivered as the memories of being trapped in that room, in the dark, with the music that kept me up most nights, made me lose track of time and the sleep I desperately needed. The shit sandwiches Dwight fed me.
The torture techniques Negan used to test me and my loyalty. How I'd have to work for points. The night that Dwight gave me the picture of Glenn, that I cried so much, I threw up and passed out from the exhausted tears that took over.
Everything. All of it. It all came flooding back to me. Looking at these things, it made me feel like I was still stuck there. The cell I was in, its now in my mind. I can't get any of that out of it. Those memories, they're going to haunt me forever. I can feel it.
A few shaky breaths left me as I looked away, stood close by the door as I stayed firmly planted where I was. Kat still hadn't turned around, as I stayed there, unable to move and unable to leave her alone either. These people, are monsters.
RPOV
As my feet crossed over each other with each, slow, gradual step. I'd looked inside the rooms, making sure no one was going to jump out at me. Keeping quiet, I wasn't ready for a fight, but I needed to desperately find those guns.
Each step I took down a dimly lit hall, my shadow cast, was dark and huge compared to the small hall I walked down alone. Kat is safe. Kat is with Daryl. He'll protect her. Or so, I hoped. As I kept walking, nothing moved, nothing made a noise and nothing came out at me.
My footsteps got slowly faster as I kept a look out for anything or anyone jumping out at me. But nothing did. So far, so good.
KPOV
When we entered the infirmary, we began to make our way in. Daryl, being always as cautious as ever, had let the door fall shut soundlessly. Going deeper into the room, I kept my bow up as I checked to make sure that nothing would attack us.
Alert as always, beginning to look at the contents of the cabinet, I was in search for any more pre-natal vitamins in them. For myself and for Maggie. As both of us, were running low. But there was an envelope resting in the cabinet.
Slipping my arrow back into my quiver, I then wrapped my bow around my torso and went to open the cabinet. Opening it quietly, while Daryl had gone to inspect a room in the back, I inspected the envelope, hoping it wasn't a big, 'f-u' in the form of a love note to us.
When I took out the paper in the envelope and turned it over, it was a picture of an ultrasound examination. The baby, it had been a good few months old in the picture of whoever this woman was carrying the baby.
The date, wasn't too long ago either. Is there a baby here? But the memory of a baby, in an infirmary, took me back to the time with Dr Carson, when he'd found out I was pregnant and had encouraged me to tell Negan.
To a time when I had been so ruthless, willing to let anyone burn before I could. A time, when my secrets would cost lives if they were dared to be spilled. I've helped do terrible things. And I'm going to have to live with that now. Forever.
That fact alone, was why I had to trust Dwight. Thinking to Dwight, my eyes then went to look for Daryl, who stood by an open door and bowed his head with a sad wobble to his lips. Approaching him slowly, I wondered what he found.
At first, I pictured the worst. A girl holding a baby. A man, holding a child. A walker baby. A walker mother that killed its baby. Anything. But what I found, in ways, was much worse. Daryl couldn't even look at me as he was stuck where stood.
It was the ghost of a cell. No one was in it but the contents, told us that it wasn't long ago that the prisoner escaped. A cuff to a pipe, cans of food and dog food in a sandwich lay across the floor. All of it, was on full display and Daryl was the one to stumble upon it.
I understood his fear, his slightly shocked stance as he stayed where he was and forced himself to look away. He feels like he's still stuck there. Or he's having awful memories, just like I am. But none of it, none of it was his fault. He needs to know that.
RPOV
Walking into a brightly lit hall, I kept moving, I didn't stop as I went in the direction the notes lead me. Approaching a room, I slowly opened it and found it to be a regular bedroom. A bedroom, that appeared to be occupied by a couple.
Keeping my guard up all through this, I was alert as I roamed the halls and found a door, except, just when I went to touch the handle and open the door, I was tackled to the ground. Rolling us over, I covered the guy's face with my hand.
All as I tried to strangle him but his hands went to my face, trying to poke my eye out with his thumb. Screaming, both of us were rolling around on the floor as we both tried to get the upper hand. When he rolled onto me, punches were being thrown to my face.
A few grunts left me, as I blocked one of them and elbowed him in the face hard. Clasping his face as he fell off of me, I scrambled to my feet and grabbed him by the back of his shirt. Punching him in the throat, the man groaned but just as I reached for my gun and took a shot.
Tossing the gun from my hand, as he threw a punch at me, I grunted and fell onto my back. The guy crouched over me, went to possibly punch me again. But before he could do that, I had lifted a leg up, the bottom of my boot was pressed to his stomach as I kicked him away from me.
Sending him flying across the room, I pushed myself back onto my feet and noticed the buttons of his shirt had come undone from the squabble. Before the guy could get up as he collided against a desk, I punched him in the jaw and saw him still trying to get up.
Determined asshole. As I kicked his face, he clutched onto the desk and I went to get him in a choke hold from behind. Getting to his feet, the guy lifted me off mine and rushed us backwards, hitting my back against the wall.
Letting out a grunt, I didn't let him go as I held onto him. Not willing to stop choking him out, he tried tossing me into a shelf on the wall, screaming as he did so. Grunting as the shelf broke against my back, everything fell off, flying as they landed on the ground.
"The M4's. Where are they?" I asked the guy as I growled in his ear, as he continued to wriggle, trying to get me to let go of him as he was gasping for air.
His hands tried to tug my arm away from his neck. "No...guns!" the guy said slowly but angrily as he continued to gasp for air. The guy choked out something but I couldn't tell what he was saying as he looked to the door I was trying to enter before.
Breathing heavily as I got him in a choke hold, I looked to the door too and realised that there was where the guns really were. "They're in there?" I yelled as I got to my feet and tossed him towards the door.
"No! No!" the guy yelled as he lifted me off my feet again, running away from the door as he shoved my back against the wall again. The wall he first bumped my back against. Letting out a grunt, I gritted my teeth and squeezed my arm tighter around his neck.
The man was gasping for air, fighting against me, as he went to try and get me to let go, from tugging at my arm, to shoving his hands all over my face. Looking over my shoulder, that was when I saw that the shelf we had broken, had supports on them.
Supports, sharp enough to use to impale him if I threw him hard enough. As his feet would struggle to stay upright, his face going more and more purple, I ran towards the angle bracket and tossed him directly to it.
"Aaaah!" I yelled as I threw him, letting him go as I saw him getting impaled into the wall. Breathing heavily, I tried to catch my breath while my body forced me to my knees. My hand to the floor as the exhaustion of the fight was getting to me.
Today has been a long day. I thought to myself as did my best to regain my breath.
DPOV
When Kat came up beside me, it wasn't long for her to notice the sight that made me freeze on the spot. Kat's eyes were sad as they rose to look at me, but I wasn't looking at her. "Daryl..." Kat tried to get my attention.
"Hey, look at me," Kat's hands went to either sides of my face as she made me look up at her. Her soft blue eyes were soothing, a sight I had missed and dreamed of during my time in the cell, much like the one we stood beside of.
Kat was firm in how she held me. "That's not you anymore," Kat told me. "It's not," Kat was getting more and more stern with her words as I looked into her eyes.
Every time I'd look into her eyes, I would avert my gaze because all I wanted to do, was cry but I had no more tears left to shed. "You're here with me. And you and me..." Kat drifted as her smile was sad but it was warm enough to be genuine.
"We're going to beat them," Kat was certain in her words. "We're going to beat them so no one else has to die," Kat explained why we were doing this. A reason, I was already behind on since Glenn, since Abraham and Denise.
"So that no one else, has to go through what we went through," Kat's voice shook a little, her fingers brushing hairs away from my eyes, so she could see into them better. "You're not going to go back to that, ever again," Kat said as a hand went to my chest.
How Kat could be the only one to pull me back, to a moment, to myself, it was like I was weak to her. I am weak and strong because of her. "I won't let it happen again, I promise," Kat promised me as tears pooled in her eyes.
But Kat stayed strong and let them silently fall to the floor. "Okay?" Kat's voice became strong, just as her features reflected her tone of voice as her eyes were glued to me. Glistening, her eyes were a sea of blue, pooled with building tears.
Feeling my bottom lip tremble, I nod my head and let out a shaky breath before a broken one entered me. We're going to end them. Together. Because we need to stop them from doing this to anyone else, ever again.
RPOV
Once I had regained my breath, I got to my feet and took the guy off his stand, tossing him to the ground as I checked him for anything. Finding keys, I assumed they were the ones to the flight of stairs and to the ones that were locked in this hallway.
Seeing a tattoo on his chest, it looked pretty recent, as it wasn't faded with time. Grace Be God. The tattoo said. Well, rest in peace asshole. I scoffed as I got up and used the keys to open the door to the one he'd been guarding.
Cocking my gun, I then noticed the room wasn't an armoury, but it was a nursery. Stepping in closer, there was a crib, with a baby in it. Above its crib, was her name. Gracie. Was the girl's name. "Gracie. Gracie," I whispered to myself.
Recalling to have heard the man grumble something, I then pieced the puzzle together to make a clear picture. The guy I just killed, he locked all the doors to the stairwell, he stopped me from going inside. He has the name Grace tattooed to his chest.
It all made sense to me. As my hand came up to my forehead, hating myself for what I'd just done to make this poor child, an orphan. I killed her father, who was trying to protect her. Looking back at the guy, it made sense as to why he wasn't giving up in the fight.
"No. No," I whimpered, lowering my head as I shook it. I killed her father. I would of fought until my last breath too, if it were my daughters or son. I understood it and hated myself more. Shaking my head, my feet paced a little as I'd look to the baby and then to the father.
Tears began to pool in my eyes. What have I done? Catching sight of myself in the mirror, I was filthy, covered in sweat, in dirt and blood. The same blood I had from the fight I'd just gone through with Gracie's father.
Looking at the mirror, I could only see a monster of a man I had become. Rubbing away the blood on my forehead, I turned my back on the mirror and tried to calm my breathing. I did this. Me. If only he told me before, I could have arranged a deal for him, instead of killing him...
KPOV
Since I had tried to pull Daryl back to me, back to reality, away from the awful memories of everything Dwight and Negan did to him. I had pulled him into a hug, at which, he held me tightly for a few minutes before he slowly pulled back.
"The guns ain't here neither," Daryl spoke lowly before he began doing a sweep of the place with just his eyes. "We should go, look for your dad," Daryl said to me, over his shoulder as I stayed by the door.
Closing it, it was my way of closing that chapter in his life for him. He isn't there. That's not him anymore. He's free and I'm going to keep it that way. "Maybe he's found them," I agreed with him, hoping that my father was the one to find the guns before we did.
"Yeah," Daryl sniffled before he lead us towards the door and opened it carefully, checking to make sure we were safe, he took the first out into the hall once again. "Stay close," Daryl instructed as he began leading the way, his crossbow up, ready to shoot.
Taking my bow off from around me and an arrow from my quiver, I followed him closely and kept myself alert. Staying alert, for the both of us, I wasn't risking losing him. Not again and not anytime soon.
RPOV
Slipping into another room, I needed to keep searching for the guns. The door creaked, I began stepping into the room, noticing nothing was there, I saw something at the corner of my eye. A picture, of a family. Going towards it, I inspected it and noticed the guy I had killed, was stood with a woman and a baby in their arms. The couple smiling with their new born daughter in their grasp.
I made that poor girl an orphan. "Damn it," I grumbled to myself but footsteps that were slow began approaching. They were so light, I hardly noticed them until a figure appeared at my peripheral vision.
"Keep your hands down. Turn around slow," the voice of a man ordered of me. Beads of sweat dripped down my hair, as I slowly turned around to do as the man had said. First, I saw a gun pointed at my head, before I saw the face behind the gun.
The face looked far too familiar to me. As the stern scowl changed to a more neutral look crossing his features, that was when I realised, under the bared and the dark gaze, was a man I knew. From long ago.
And the way he had looked at me, made me realise he was slowly starting to recognise me, too. "Hi, Rick," Morales greeted me, after all this time.
Still, he held a gun to me. And that was when I looked down his frame. He no longer wore what I remembered he used to wear. He was wearing plain colours, not the bold ones he used to wear.
And his wife, his kids, I could only assumed something happened to them or they were here somewhere too. "Your name...is Morales," I tried to get him to lower the gun by bringing us both back to a time when we were friends.
Back, to a time where he was friends with my family. "You were in Atlanta," I stated what I could remember. Back to when it was me, Glenn, Lori and a whole bunch of other people who were no longer here with us.
No sympathy crossed his features to the memory of us fighting our way out back in the city to get back to the camp. Back to our families. Now, he was consumed by the darkness that I feared had consumed Shane some time ago.
Morales wasn't Morales anymore. He was Negan now. "That was a long time ago," Morales reminded me. "It's over, Rick. I called the Saviors back," Morales showed me the walkie-talkie he had tucked into his belt. "And they're coming," Morales warned me.
KPOV
Walking down the halls, back the way we came, we went in search for the guns, for my father. My mind racing as I feared we weren't alone. Something inside of me, told me we weren't alone. I could feel it, in my gut.
As we kept walking, I let Daryl lead the way as I covered his back and he stayed as alert as I hope he'd be. We need to find those guns. We need to end this. We can. Together.
My breathing was quiet, still, my eyes glued to anything that moved, as we kept going forward, our weapons up, I knew we were getting closer to the elevator and from there, it was only going to be closer to my father next. We have to find him. We need those guns.
DPOV
Even as I walked ahead of Kat, leading her down the halls, all my mind could do, was race back to the cell, back to the same one I had been stuck in. My mind blank a few times, as memories haunted me from the time I was locked in there.
The trails, all of it, had been flooding into my head. It was clouding my vision but the more I walked, the closer Kat got, the more I began to focus on the task at hand. I'm not him anymore. I'm here, with Kat. And we need to find Rick.
The halls were deadly silent but something in them, felt like it was just as haunted as I was. Something's not right. I can feel it. Looking back at Kat, I sensed she could feel it too. Keeping close behind me, I was focused on protecting her. On protecting our child.
RPOV
Blinking a few times, I tried to focus on my breathing, focus on trying to survive this. But I didn't know how to fight against an old friend. Against someone, I had hoped would lower their weapon and join our side. For old times sake.
Keeping my gaze locked on his, the more I looked at him, the more I visualised the fact he was no longer the same man I knew. Now, he was someone else. We both were someone else. Different from the people we once were in Atlanta.
He's Negan now. But there's got to be some way to bring him back, to bring him back to who he used to be. Back to Morales. I should kill him. But I have to get him to come back to being who he was. Who he could still go back to being...
Silently, I watched as he pulled the hammer back, signalling to me, that he was ready to shoot, if it came down to it.
I have to survive this. Somehow.
A/N: I hope you liked this chapter. Believe it or not, I wrote this all, in a day. Then again, the chapter is basically all thoughts and actions, which always go down quicker than chapters that are full of dialogue.
Anyway, you know the deal...
5 REVIEWS. IT'S ALL I ASK FOR. IF I ASK AND RECEIVE THOSE 5 REVIEWS, YOU COULD GET THE NEXT CHAPTER OUT AS SOON AS A FORTNIGHT FROM NOW! SO, 5 REVIEWS AND THE NEXT CHAPTER, IS YOURS TO READ BY THE FORTNIGHT COMING. IF NOT, YOU'LL HAVE TO WAIT FOR TWO FORTNIGHTS.
Also, if you haven't already, go check me out on Instagram. The (a) is the same as this one. There, you can find polls, discussions, updates and edits. Check it out.
Questions you can answer in the reviews:
1) What did you think of this chapter?
2) Favourite scene in this chapter?
3) What did you think about the flashback?
4) What did you think about the cell scene? (Personally, I thought it was sweet to have Kat and Daryl have a moment alone like that)
5) What do you want to happen next?
Until those 5 reviews are gifted...
Much love and stay safe!
HeroJustInTime90
