It's all about choices.
Go back or go forward
Daryl had a split second to decide.
Go back or go forward.
That's what every decision in his life had come down to.
He'd never had the luxury of just standing still.
Go with Merle or stay with his daddy.
Go back to Atlanta to look for Merle or stay in camp.
Climb outa that gully or lay there and let the walkers take him.
Go back to the farm for Carol or stay on the road and let the walkers take her.
Stay with Rick or go look for Merle in Woodbury.
Stay with Merle or go back to the prison.
Go look for the Governor or stay at the prison.
Leave the prison or stay and die.
In a split second he had to decide.
Go back or go forward.
Back to Sanctuary with little to no chance at another escape, but with two doctors and the medical equipment Carol and the baby would need, or go forward to freedom, hoping that they could get her to Hilltop in time, hoping that he wouldn't lose them both in the attempt.
In that split second he saw her hand open to release the rope, her eyes filled with love, silently telling him goodbye, to go forward, to leave her, to save himself and the others.
No fucking way.
Dropping his bow, Daryl lunged, flipping up his blanket so he could scoop her up and hide her underneath it in a bridal carry. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Carl bend to retrieve the crossbow, letting it hang loosely from his hand, almost dragging it as he shuffled along in an ungainly irregular gait, moaning in a perfect imitation of a walker's vocalizations.
His arms full carrying her, the others filled in around him, protecting he and Carol on all sides, using their knives to take out any walkers that got too curious, too close. They moved slowly forward, heading for the small grove of trees beyond the road and the abandoned buildings at the outer edge of the Savior's compound.
Daryl's mind raced. How long did they have after her water broke? Why did it feel like a million years ago that he'd heard her discuss Lori's delivery with Hershel? Preparing herself to help like she always did, she'd trained how to do it, even down to having Glenn help her take down a walker to practice... shit, what if she needed that? What had Erin told them? He looked up and his eyes met the young doctor's anxious ones as she walked beside him on one side with Kayla, Tara and Carson on the other, Enid and Carl behind.
He should be defending them; he was risking all their lives putting Carol's safety above the rest of the group... couldn't think about that now... needed to find Aaron, get her someplace safe... He felt her turn her face to his chest to muffle a cry of pain and he had to force himself to keep moving forward, holding her tighter, and trying to comfort her.
Hilltop
"What can we do for you, Wade?" Tammy, one of the Hilltop sentries, asked, her bow visible in her hand.
"Here to see Gregory." Wade said with an arrogant thrust of his chin. He and five of the men he'd brought stood at the gates, the other fifteen back in the cover of the trees waiting. Since Hilltop had no ammunition for the few guns they had, he felt confident in taking in only a small armed group.
"Any particular reason?"
"You questioning Negan?" Wade's voice went cold.
"Now don't get your panties all in a bunch, just asking." then she called down to those manning the gate, "Open up!"
Wade didn't recognize the young woman who stood just inside the gate waiting for them.
"Hello—welcome back to Hilltop, if you'll be so kind as to hand your weapons over I'd be happy to take you up to the mansion." She said firmly, indicating a stoic looking Eugene and Spencer, who were acting as guards at the gate, with a nod of her head.
"Who the hell are you?" Wade frowned, keeping his hand on his gun, "Where's Gregory?"
"Gregory hasn't been feeling well, I'm his new assistant, Maggie." she told him. "I've been here about a month, taking care of some of the less important every day operations."
"Yeah, you look like what he likes workin' under him." Wade snarked at her, tilting his head and slowly looking her up and down in a way that made his innuendo perfectly clear. There was something vaguely familiar about the young woman with the pixie cut short hair, but he couldn't place her...
When she turned to motion the guards to take their weapons, Wade realized that he didn't recognize either of the guards, and only about half of the people watching their arrival.
"Jesus here? Monroe?" Wade asked quickly, keeping hold of his gun.
"He's out on a supply run." Maggie said easily, her posture relaxed but ready.
"You come in with a new group?" Negan's second asked, looking around, pinning some of the other new faces with his gaze.
"That's right. Our camp was overrun by walkers." Maggie told him, truthfully as it so happened. "Jesus found us and led us all here. We brought what supplies we were able to salvage."
"Supposed to report that kind of shit to Negan." Wade said gruffly, narrowing his eyes. "How many of you?"
"Eight." Maggie lied. The population of Alexandria had been closer to fifty, but about half were gone, either at Kingdom or Sanctuary or out on runs.
"Need a list—names, ages, gender—all that along with any skills they got to contribute. This ain't no free ride." Wade said, giving her the party line.
"All filed with Gregory." Maggie said, raising her chin. "We understand what Negan wants."
Wade stared at her. There was something in her tone that made the palms of his hands itch. He heard the sound of metal on metal and eyed the big man working at the blacksmith's forge—what was he hammering? Was that a broad sword?
"Bring the sniveling bastard out here." Wade demanded, feeling the sweat trickling down his back.
"As I said, he isn't well. He's bed ridden and only sees people in his rooms. I'll have to insist on you turning over your weapons before you can be taken to see him." Maggie said, her eyes rising ever so briefly to the battlement towers on either side of the gates.
Wade looked up to the top of the gates and swore. The sentry and five others had their weapons trained on him and his men, as did the two guards. They weren't all crossbows and spears either.
At a signal from Maggie every one of the people in the bailey revealed their weapons as well. All of them had either a pistol, rifle or one of the newly forged swords.
"What the fuck is this?" Wade blustered, furious and bewildered.
"Ain't got no bullets no how!" Chet, one of the men in his group snarled, and then lunged forward, making a grab for Maggie. Three bullets hit him almost simultaneously, one from Eugene, one from Abe, standing with the blacksmith, and one from above and behind them, proving him dead wrong.
"We were also able to salvage our armory and reloading equipment." Maggie said with a small smile. Eugene had been a godsend in that regard, working with the local blacksmith, he had been able to fabricate bullet molds and recreate the equipment that allowed spent casings and shells to be reloaded.
Wade looked up from Chet's body, the blood splattered around his head, clean shot through the temple by a precision weapon. He looked all around them, saw Sasha up on the battlements pointing her sniper rifle directly at him, realized they were surrounded, outnumbered and out gunned, and finally dropped his gun and raised his hands in surrender. His men looked stunned, but followed suit, letting Eugene and Spencer search them and take their weapons.
"Gregory's not in charge anymore." Maggie said. "And y'all should know, we're not so interested in bending the knee to another tin-plated dictator."
"Then I think we need to talk." Wade nodded, starting to wonder if the Archer had been right—maybe one figurehead was as good as another. With the backing of a strong group like this, maybe it was possible to find a way out of Negan's world...
A hill near Sanctuary
Eric paced back and forth in front of the Winnebago, using the big binoculars to watch the walkers surrounding the Sanctuary compound, wishing he knew that Aaron and the others were already out and safe, but there had been no word yet. He'd been tasked with staying back, on higher ground, away from the herd, guarding the Hilltop doctor, the OB/GYN specialist, Denise, who was in the RV, ready to treat any injuries or wounds, but most of all to give Carol any aid she might need when they got her out.
He thought back to when Daryl and Carol had arrived at Alexandria, as haggard and worn down to the bone as the rest of their group. How they'd stepped up and become an important part of the community, working both inside and out to restore something that they'd all lost, a sense of belonging, and a sense of home. In the process they'd finally admitted to each other their true feelings and had just started to make a life together when one crisis after another conspired to tear them apart. This baby was a miracle... and Eric was the kind of person who liked to believe in miracles coming true.
"How much longer do you think?" Denise asked, standing in the open doorway of the RV.
"No way of knowing. Daryl's group has to get through the walls, then make it through the herd long enough for someone to find them. That's a lot of cold bodies to sort through." Eric replied.
"I see Rick and Jesus!" Ron called from his post on top of the Winnebago. "They're breaking off from the last of the herd and heading into the woods. Those horses are cool—they aren't even scared of walkers."
"That's nothing, they're also trained to run alongside the tiger." Heath said, coming around from the other side of the RV, his Kalashnikov automatic rifle held at the ready. That was one of the stories he'd been told last night as he'd sat and talked with Ben and Ruth and a few others after dinner. They were full of praise for their leader's eccentric but effective style.
"Is that for real?" Ron asked skeptically. The idea that someone had a pet attack tiger seemed like something out of a video game.
"Saw with my own two eyes." Heath assured him. "Dude's seriously bad ass, no wonder Rick's..." but then he stopped, realizing maybe he'd said too much.
"What about Rick?" Ron asked. He had an ambiguous relationship with the Alexandria leader, who had been the death of both his parents, but who had taken him and Sam in afterwards. He was here now, because Carl and Enid, his best friends, were in danger. He'd asked Rick for a chance to help save them and been allowed to come along on the mission, though his face was still swollen and bruised from the beat down he'd taken trying to prevent Enid from being taken.
"Let's just say Ezekiel took an interest in Michonne and Rick wasn't too pleased about it." Heath elaborated, with a shrug.
"Michonne and Rick?" Eric frowned. He supposed it made some sense, they were raising all of those kids together, worked together, trusted each other implicitly, had survived other losses and made it through.
"Both pretty much alpha types though..." Heath mused.
"And Daryl and Carol aren't?" Eric asked. "Warrior to warrior works too."
"You men are worse gossips than any woman I've ever known." Denise snorted, plopping herself down on the bottom step and opening her water bottle to take a long drink.
"Somethings coming!" Ron suddenly yelled. "I can see movement against the tide of the herd! Coming fast, from the south..."
"Stay frosty, people." Heath said, moving around to the south side of the RV. "We still got walkers all over this place as well as possible Saviors in addition to our people."
Denise followed him, drawing a 9mm handgun from the holster on her thigh and aiming it at the tree line, holding it in both hands like someone who knew what they were doing.
"I really hate this bullshit." Denise said with a world weary sigh, "Dead people should stay dead. Taught us that in med school. All I'm sayin'" and then she popped off a round, taking out a skeletal looking lone walker that stumbled out of the forest.
Heath looked over at her with interest. Her long blonde hair was scraped back into a messy sweaty pony tail, her slightly fogged up glasses perched a little low on her freckled nose. She wasn't what you would call a classic beauty, but she was funny and smart and fierce.
"You wondering if I'm into chicks or dudes or is it the black/white thing?" Denise asked, feeling his eyes on her, and then looked over and flashed him a grin, her green eyes merry.
"We live through this day?" Heath said, grinning back, "I think I'd like to get to know you a whole lot better, Doc."
"Sounds like a plan..." Denise nodded, training her focus back on the tree line, and then adding, "Oh and the answer is yes... to all of the above."
Before Heath could respond to that revelation from the women he'd met less than twenty-four hours ago, Ron's shouted "Heads up!" drew his attention back to the edge of the forest where more bodies emerged out from under the shadows of the trees.
Hilltop
"You wouldn't happen to be from Georgia, now, would you?" Wade asked, surprising her.
"Why?" Maggie frowned. She looked over at the man sitting in the chair across from where she sat, what had formerly been Gregory's big desk between them emphasizing her authority.
Spencer stood at the door, gun in hand and Abe sat in a third chair behind and to the side of Maggie, staring intently at Wade, whose hands and feet were bound.
"I think I might've met a friend of yours." Wade said, leaning back, a slow smile spreading across his face, "Deadly with a crossbow? He had similar thoughts on me overthrowing Negan."
"And what did you tell him?" Maggie asked.
Wade noted she didn't deny knowing Archer.
"What's really going on here?" he asked her with a steely squint. "Is Gregory dead?"
"He's alive but no longer the leader of Hilltop." Maggie told him, "His interests weren't compatible with the needs of the community."
"Which are?"
"Getting out from under the boot heel of the madman you follow." Maggie said. "Getting the freedom to live."
"You got a plan on how to accomplish that?" Wade asked, curious.
"How big is his operation?" Maggie countered, standing and coming around the desk to lean back against it, invading his space. "Can't make real plans unless we know what we're really up against."
Wade studied the young woman. She had a strong steady gaze and a no nonsense demeanor that reminded him of someone... he saw how she wore her knife, her blouse tucked behind the hilt, billowing slightly out over her slightly rounded abdomen...
"Carol..." he murmured and was rewarded with a slight startled look from the girl. "You're from Alexandria, aren't you? All of you new ones?"
Maggie's eyes narrowed.
"Is she okay?" she asked tightly, and Wade could see how badly she wanted an answer by how carefully she was suppressing her concern and anger.
"She was holding her own when I left." Wade said carefully. "Your friend with the bow is keeping a good eye on her."
Maggie visibly relaxed, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.
"And the baby?" she ventured.
"Still cooking far as I know." Wade shrugged, then lowered his eyes to the floor and added, "Had a little scare though—sent the boss off looking for medical equipment for her—he's real fond a' her and that kid."
"Negan left Sanctuary?" Maggie asked, her tone lighter.
"You already knew that though, didn't you?" Wade asked shrewdly, raising his eyes to hers.
"Where's Negan?" Abe barked menacingly.
Maggie raised her hand without looking back at him, asking for his patience.
"On his way to Washington—to some hospital in Bethesda Archer told us about—if he's your man is that even real?" Wade asked.
"It's real." Abe said, making Maggie give a hint of a smile. Washington and Abraham...
"What about the other women he took?" Maggie asked. "Are they still alive?"
"Were when I left." Wade nodded, then his brow furrowed thoughtfully, "He took the Latina with him though... what was her name? Rosario? Lupita?"
Abe was up and off his chair faster than Maggie could react. He grabbed Wade by the throat, lifting him up off the chair one handed like he weighed nothing.
"Abraham!" Maggie cried, putting her hand on his shoulder to calm him.
"He took Rosita!" Abe said, his red flushed face only an inch from Wade's, his choking hold tightening.
"And this asshole is our best bet of getting her back!" Maggie said adamantly to Abe, shaking her head at Spencer who had come up closer behind Wade asking her silently if she needed his help to break it up.
Abe continued to stare at Wade, who was making helpless gurgling sounds, his bound arms and legs flailing.
"Abe, put him down." Maggie ordered quietly.
Abraham held his stranglehold for a few more seconds and then released Wade, who fell to the ground, knocking the chair behind him over. Then like some roused grizzly stopped in mid-maul, the ex-soldier retreated to his seat, sitting down heavily.
Spencer helped Maggie lift Wade back up, righting the chair and then sitting him back in it.
Wade coughed, catching his breath and glaring at Abraham who snorted and gave him an ugly unapologetic smile.
"You think you got the stones to take on Negan?" Wade asked, his voice rasping and dry.
"We had the stones to send one of our own into Sanctuary and get our friends out." Maggie said. Then she walked back behind her desk and turned on a short wave radio system and lifted up the hand microphone.
"Denise, do you have them yet? Over?" she asked into it.
At first there was only static, but then an excited young voice came on.
"Denise is busy, Maggie!"
"Carl!?" Maggie exclaimed, tears springing into her eyes, "Are you okay? What's happening?"
"I'm okay, but Carol's having the baby and it's too soon." The boy said, his fear sharp even through the hiss of static on the channel. "I gotta go—we're heading out now—Denise says to tell Carson to get the incubator ready and oh shit! Tell him we have his brother, okay? And Enid and Erin and Tara and Daryl, but we lost Rosita. Shit! I gotta go!"
The transmission abruptly cut off.
Everyone stared at each other dumbly, unsure of whether to be happy or scared at Carl's mixed bag of news.
"It'll still take them an hour to get here if they're lucky." Wade said, surprising Maggie with the note of soft worry in his voice.
She frowned over at him.
"After I lost mine, I got into all this to make a safe place for families, kids, people who needed it. People like Carol. I thought that's what Negan was." Wade said, "He said it was—hell, I think part of him actually believes it—but he's... he's not right." He shook his head, "He treats people as disposables, and uses them for his own twisted ends like they was paper dolls or something. Kills without mercy or remorse, forces women to be his sex toys by coercion and burns the faces of the men who love them if they try to interfere." He leaned his head back, fighting tears. He was done, done with Negan, the Saviors, all of it.
"You gonna help us?" Maggie asked him, setting the microphone down on her desk and coming back around the front of her desk, staring at him until he met her eyes.
"I got fifteen more guys out in the woods, watching this place." Wade said. "We were sent here to get Carson and take him back to Sanctuary. Then we were supposed to go occupy Alexandria so we could start relocating people there. Negan means to make it his new base."
The truth of his mission out, Wade slumped forward. He felt a soft touch on his right shoulder and looked up into the compassionate eyes of the new leader of Hilltop.
"Thank you." Maggie said.
"He'll kill me for this." Wade said and then gave a low snorting chuckle. "He hates disloyalty more than anything."
"Most leaders do." Maggie agreed, her cheek curving into a small smile. "But you just chose a new one. If you can't go back, go forward."
Note: This Denise is pan-sexual. She has a love relationship with Heath in the comics.
Spoiler WARNING! Rant about 6:14 Spoilers ahead:
Been working on this chapter off and on for the last few days, trying to surf the high from the Hug 2.0, knowing as soon as the spoilers for this coming week came out I would crash and burn, and I was right. Sigh.
I feel manipulated and a bit trolled by how they never even mentioned Tobin's name in MMB's TTD appearance, knowing we would take that as a sign to not take it seriously, (which MMB's press interviews also did) and then they showed the snippet of the Caryl porch conversation to draw in our ratings while all the while planning to slap us in the face with another Cabin kiss, this time in public in broad daylight on his front porch showing they're a couple (I understand that's the preferred ship name now that it's an actual canon ship? She typed, wiping the tears off her cheeks). HILARIOUS Mr. Gimple, you who rip out beating hearts out for your amusement.
I don't even know what to feel anymore. I feel hollow.
And killing Denise to give Daryl more man pain sucks the big one just as hard, Gimple.