Chapter 37

The caravan of four mismatched cars held a total of twenty people. Each car was also loaded down with automatic weapons, hand guns, extra ammunition and supply packs for each person. If anyone got separated from the group, they would have the essentials in with to survive for a couple days.

It was now the middle of the night as the cars headed towards their destination. They covered the miles in a slow steady pace with very little walkers crossing their path. They were using the darkness to cover up their arrival, so they could get into position hopefully unnoticed.

This attack had to be a complete surprise or it simply would not work. They had no other option…this had to succeed.

With less than two dozen people from Alexandria trying to take out the top men from the Saviors was extremely risky operation. This was all or nothing. As long as they were not discovered, this would go down in their favor, so that's why they were doing this during the darkest time of the night.

Emma sat next to Daryl in the car that was being driven by Glenn. Maggie was next to him in the front seat and Aaron was on Emma's other side. They were the lead car with the other three behind them. Each car had a location that they were to pull over at and hide the car as best as they could. The cars were going to be spread out along the country road and one by one they were to pull over as they found secluded spots in their assigned area.

Finally Glenn steered the car to the side of the road over and tucked it into the trees. They all got out keeping an eye on out for people or walkers. They were all highly alert to their surroundings. It was lucky for them that while it was a cloudless night, the moon was just a tiny little sliver. The night was the perfect amount of darkness to see where they were going without using a flashlight.

The larger weapons were unloaded from the trunk and everyone got ready for the long trek to the church. Extra ammunition was stuffed into pockets and packs went over their shoulders. Emma was the only one not carrying an automatic weapon. Daryl had given her two hands guns instead. There was no time to train her how to use one, plus wasting bullets training her at this point would not have been beneficial the group. Emma was more familiar with the handguns, so that's what Daryl deemed to be the best choice for her.

Everyone had their assigned positions to locate. Six people would be spread out behind the church keeping an eye on the back door. The rest would be scattered around the front where the saviors would be coming and going. Since the meeting was not until daylight, Rick hoped that the guards would not be already in position.

Emma stayed with Daryl. He had already told her not to leave his side no matter what. She watched him put a strap over his head and onto his shoulder that held a large weapon that she had never seen before. This was vastly different from the usual crossbow he wore, in fact he did not even bring the crossbow with him which she thought was usual.

"Stay close and watch for my hand signals," he whispered to her. "Keep a gun in hand, finger off the trigger and pointed down. Don't fuckin' shoot me."

Of course she knew that and when he didn't respond to the eye roll, she shook her head yes. She wasn't that much of a novice.

A few of the others had caught up to them by now, so Daryl started the group heading out, taking the point position that he was used to. He held his AR-15 rifle up and ready.

As they trudged through the underbrush and dense forest, Emma wondered why Daryl had wanted her to come along. She certainly was not as good as they were with guns and fighting, so being there did make her extremely nervous. She knew her skills were not up to par with what this attack needed. However, on the other hand she was glad not to be back at Alexandria waiting and wondering what had happened.

Daryl kept the group moving as quickly and quietly as possible. He always had a good sense of direction, so even though he only had a general idea where the church was, he knew he was headed in the right direction. That and his tracking skills were why Rick had him lead so often.

Every few minutes he would check that Emma was still right behind him along with the rest of the group. He was leading seven people that included Emma, Aaron, Rosita and several more of the original Alexandrians.

Rick was ten minutes behind him with Michonne, Gabriel, Sasha and three more Alexandrians. Glen had his people heading towards the back of the church. He was leading Maggie, Eric, Eugene, Tara and Heath.

Within an hour they were all in position and ready to wait out the rest of the night. Emma had told Rick that she thought Negan usually wanted everyone at the assigned meeting location for lunch time. This way they didn't need to travel at night as The Saviors were quite spread out. She remembered watching food leave the main camp to get to the leaders for lunch. Sometimes they even stayed for dinner, but they always had lunch.

Now it was simply a waiting game.


Negan always looked forward to his meetings with his lieutenants. He sat in the backseat of the SUV that was headed to today's location and he was smiling to himself. He loved being able to continually show the power he held over everyone… over his people and over the communities around them. He liked having his people afraid of him. The cost of disobeying him was severe and how severe was up to him. They could end up looking like Dwight with his half burned face or they could lose a limb or lose their life. He was never to be disobeyed.

He knew his men's loyalty went as far as his power over them. There was not one of them that he completely trusted. They would overthrow him in a second if they thought they could get away with it, that's why he was continuously proving his strength and ruthlessness, but also his fairness to them. Punishments were severe, but always warranted. He was king of the Saviors and planned on staying that way for a long, long time.

The Alexandrians were the most recent community brought under his brutal thumb. He had to give it to them as they had fucking balls. No one took on his men and lived, and they were able to take them out not once, but twice showed their strength. Their fault, make that Rick's fault, was they underestimated him.

"Fucking right, they underestimated me," he thought to himself. "And they paid the price with Lucille."

Negan learned early on that he needed to scare the shit out of people in order to get them to co-operate. He'd make a statement...a fucking huge statement and that usually kept everyone in line. If not, they would pay the price again and this time it would be worse. He fucking loved it when it was worse.

He watched the countryside fly by the car and thought about the Alexandrians again. He knew they were different than any of the other groups he had working for them. They showed they had guts and he appreciated that, but he knew they had been knocked down temporarily. As much as they showed fear and defeat at the ceremony, he had a feeling they were not going to lay down and take it like The Hilltop and the others did. He was expecting a comeback from them and was looking forward to it. He welcomed it in fact.

The car turned down the dirt road that led to the church they were using for the meeting. He noticed guards stationed around the perimeter keeping a lookout for trouble from walkers, humans or both. They were never really was needed, except for an occasional walker. It was simply a precaution as no one ever bothered them. No one dared.

Negan exited the car and headed through the wide open doors to meet his men. It was time for an accounting from his men to see who was co-operating and who was shorting them their half share. He had put Dwight in charge of the Alexandrians and he wanted to know how their first delivery went. As he made his way to his elevated chair up on what would have been the alter, he noticed the ugly scarred face of Dwight was missing. Where was that motherfucker? He knew better than to be late.


Rick and Daryl watched the activity going on at the church through the scopes of their weapons. They saw the guards arrive with the women that brought the food, and then the women left. The men never ventured beyond the grounds of the church, which was good for the group hiding in the woods, but sloppy surveillance. It meant there was less of a chance of them being discovered.

A dozen other men arrived individually or in small groups and headed inside. They had to be Negan's lieutenants and they could be seen wandering around in the church's main room. With the big front double doors left open for air flow, it gave Daryl and Rick a clear view of what was going on inside. It could not have been more perfect.

Emma sat quietly next to Daryl. They had barely talked at all during the last eight hours they had been hiding in the woods. She was tired and bored, but knew that Negan would be arriving shortly and that would change everything or at least that was what she expected. Daryl had never gone over the details of this attack with her. All she knew was to stay near him, other than that she was clueless and that bothered her. She should have asked him about the plan, but it was too late now. She wouldn't let that happen again.

While he kept in eye on the Saviors, she kept an eye out for walkers. They were lucky that they had yet to encounter more than two or three that were easily taken care of. The sun was high in the sky and the temperature of the day had risen greatly. The ground gave off a musty smell that tickled Emma's nose.

Daryl watched as the guards did a lazy ass job of patrolling. They were so used to not having any trouble he guessed that they spent more time talking than actually watching for signs of trouble. He smiled to himself as this was the best situation they could have asked for. He had a good feeling that this was going to be a big success, as they were betting everything they had on it. If it failed, they would have to leave Alexandria and in a hurry too, as retribution by the Saviors would be hard and swift.

Rick had left it up to him when to start the attack. He was just waiting for Negan to arrive, which was hopefully soon. Daryl looked over at Emma and knew he should have left her back home. Home? When had he started to think of Alexandria as home? He realized then that he didn't have that claustrophobic feeling that it had given him for so long. He was comfortable there now. Emma being there made a big difference. He always felt closer to her than anyone else in his life, including his brother. Where she was… home was.

That's why he made her come, even though Rick strongly suggested he leave her back with Carl and Judith. He didn't want to be separated from her. She was what made his life worth living again. It was a selfish and probably a really stupid move, but she was here sitting in the brush with the rest of them. If the shit hit the fan he would die protecting her, but he really wasn't expecting that to happen. He had a good feeling about this.

Daryl reached out a hand towards Emma and indicated to her to come closer to him. "This should be going down soon. After Negan arrives and gets comfortable, I'm moving in closer to get a better shot. You need to stay here and off a bit to the side," he whispered to her. "If we get separated, wait here if you can or try to head to the car. We may need to get closer in to get the guards, but you stay here. Stay alert for walkers or strays."

He gave her a quick kiss. "When this goes down it will be fast and loud."

"What are you going to do?" Emma asked softly.

The corner of Daryl's mouth lifted. "Just wait and see."

Again he wasn't telling her anything and that didn't make her happy. "Daryl, I want to know what's going to happen,' she told him more forcefully.

"Em…" he started to say when a big SUV drove in causing dust to swirl in the air. His attention immediately went back to the action at the church. Daryl watched Negan exit the car and strut into the building. It was almost time.

Emma watched as best as she could through the trees and foliage they were hiding behind. She would constantly turn back around to check for walkers. The last thing she wanted was one to surprise her or Daryl.

Negan walked through the room greeting his men before heading to his big chair on the raised dais. He sat down with his long legs stretched out in front of him. This was his favorite location to have his meetings. It was out in the country and the set up made him feel like he was the King of them all…which in fact he was.

Daryl watched the goings on inside the church until he was sure they settled down to talk. He looked over at Rick and nodded that he was going to move in. The tension in the air rose as everyone knew Daryl was going in for the shot.

Emma's anxiety skyrocketed as she realized how vulnerable he was going to be. She said a quick prayer to the God she wasn't sure she believed in anymore and watched the love of her life put himself in severe jeopardy.

Daryl watched every step he took to make sure he made as little noise as possible. He was on the edge of the trees, hidden behind some mountain laurel bushes. He put the gun in his hand down on the ground and took the rocket launcher off his back. He was using one of the last two RPG's, rocket propelled grenade, to take the Saviors out. It worked the first time, so why not now when the stakes were even higher.

He didn't waste any time aiming it inside the church and fired. The building exploded into a bright hot fireball tossing flaming pieces of wood and debris high into the air. Multiple gunshots started to fire as they took out any survivors and guards. It was a controlled chaos that had Rick smiling from ear to ear.

"Take that you fuckers," Rick shouted as his gun took out one man after another. The Alexandrian's had their revenge.


A/N - Big impact chapter...what did you think? It's certainly a very plausible way to take out Negan. They still do have two RPG's left.

Two chapters to go then Suddenly...GONE is finished. Sad, I now, but then it's going to be time for Taking a Chance. That will start a week from today. It will be a whole new adventure with Daryl in a completely non-TWD setting. I'm excited for it. Follow me as an author to always know when a new story is posted.

Enjoy!

Walker Witch