Warnings: Angst. Violence. Death.

Bamby

VPOV

The sun was golden in the sky, that beautiful colour it got before sun set. It was beautiful and warm.

I was laying down on a blanket in the field across from home, with Judith by my side. She was happily playing with her toys, watching Aly and Houdini run around us. Giggling and happy barking filled my ears, making my heart swell as I enjoyed the peace while I could.

Carl was only a few feet away, finishing off planting a tree he'd decided to plant in the field across from our home.

The day had been nice. It was a different pace that I'd really needed after the hell I'd been through for weeks now.

I couldn't remember the last time things had been this quiet, this easy. Even when Daryl and I had our moments, when we allowed ourselves to get intimate and just enjoy each other while we could, things were never like this.

It wasn't going to last, so I was going to enjoy it for as long as I could.

"Daddy!"

Aly's voice had me sitting up on my elbows as I watched Daryl head towards us. My mood shifted in an instant.

Pulling myself up, I told Aly to wait with Judith while I headed over to my husband, meeting him halfway.

"You left."

He nodded, chewing his lip. "Yep."

"You went to the Sanctuary."

"Yep."

"Without me."

"Couldn't take you with me. Couldn't risk it."

"So you can risk yourself but not me?" I shook my head at him. "What happened to 'Where you go, I go'?" When he didn't respond right away, I stepped closer. "Daryl… is it 'cause you don't trust me."

That got his attention.

He stopped chewing his lip as he met my gaze and held it. "I trust you, Vic. Aint trust no one like I trust you."

"Then why did you go? Why… why did you leave me?" I felt my voice break a little as tears began to brim my eyes. "I was alone and I didn't know if you were gonna come back, and I thought… I thought if you died out there, today, without me, you'd die hating me."

Suddenly he was pulling me to his chest, holding me to him. I cried, letting out only a bit of the stress and emotions I'd been bottling up for far too long now.

"Never hate you, Vic." He pressed a kiss to my forehead. "Just did what I thought I had to. Had to protect you from that place. From those people."

He didn't have to say it, but we both knew there was only one person he wanted to protect me from. Negan.

"Won't do it again. I promise. Won't leave you again."

I nodded against him, letting him hold me close as I cried a little more.

CPOV

I thought it would be safe when night fell. I thought I could sneak into the underground sewer tunnels to check on Siddiq. I thought I would go unnoticed. No one ever noticed when I snuck over the fence, so why should this be any different?

I'd been wrong.

As I slid the cover back onto the manhole I tried to be as quiet as possible. Once it was in place I turned, ready to head back home. Instead I came face to face with Michonne as she headed my way.

"Carl," she called, a questioning look furrowing her brows. "I've been lookin' for you. We're about ready to head out. What are you doing?" she asked as she looked behind me at the manhole.

There was no point in lying, and if there was anyone I could trust it would be Michonne.

"I'm helping someone," I admitted. "A traveller."

"In the sewer?"

Before I could explain or defend my actions, the sound of something banging on the town walls had as both freeze and turn in the direction it was coming from.

The front gates.

Feedback rang through the air, followed by a voice we did not expect. A voice that made our blood run cold.

"You may be wondering why the hell your lookouts didn't sound the alarm," Negan started. "See, we are polite. I mean, I don't know when they're gonna wake up from that kinda shot, but they should wake up. So let's just cut through the cow shit. You lose. It's over."

My heart was racing. We were unprepared and outnumbered.

Dad wasn't here. Hilltop wasn't here. The Kingdom had fallen apart. There were women and children. Elderly people. People lived here that could not fight and could not run.

We were running out of time, and we were running out of options.

"So you're gonna line up in front of your little houses, and you're gonna work up some apologies, and then the person with the lamest one is gonna get killed." Negan's voice rang through the town. I had no doubt everyone was listening. "Then I kill Rick in front of everybody, and we move on. You have three, count 'em, three minutes to open this gate, or we start bombing the shit out of you!"

Michonne's eyes were wide with fear. "They got out."

"Come on." I turned and headed towards the houses as Negan began whistling. "Michonne," I called after her when she didn't move. "Come on!"

We didn't have time to waste.

MPOV

With his eyes on the road in front of us, Jesus drove. We were headed for the Sanctuary like we'd all planned. Cars full of our people followed as we drove through the night. Jesus and I were in the front, with him behind the wheel, while Neil- one of the Hilltop people- and Diane sat behind us.

Sighing, Jesus broke the silence, "Do you think they'll surrender?"

"They will." I believed it. "Eventually."

"Not now?"

I turned to give him a pointed look. "Would we give up that quick?"

"No, we wouldn't."

"Damn straight," Neil agreed from behind me.

"They don't surrender today, they will soon." It was only a matter of time. "Just need to run out of food water choices."

Turning back to the road, I focused on the plan ahead. We had one goal, one mission, one destination in mind. It was a road we'd taken several times before. One we knew like the back of our hands. So when something changed it didn't go unmissed by me.

"Slow down," I told Jesus as I shifted in my seat, suddenly tense and alert.

"What is it?" Neil asked.

I nodded to the road up ahead. "Tree in the road wasn't there before."

"Could've fallen on its own," Jesus suggested. "Trees do that."

I knew better. "It's them. Something happened." Grabbing the walkie talkie, I didn't miss a beat before sending out orders, "Bertie, turn around."

But there was no response.

"Bertie!"

I looked behind us for a moment to make sure the cars were still there.

"Maggie." Diane nodded to the front of our car.

Turning again, I watched as a truck rolled down the road. It curved around the fallen tree and turned so the back was facing us before coming to a stop.

Sitting there, all of us tense as the anticipation built up, I found my mind reeling as a million scenarios played out in my mind. I had no doubt this was the Saviours, that was sure. I just didn't know how they'd managed to get free.

Behind us we heard car doors opening and closing as other Saviours surrounded our vehicles. Then the back of the truck opened, revealing a few other Saviours… along with a beaten-up Jerry, and a wooden coffin.

One of the truck's doors opened as Simon stepped out, toothy grin in place. "Hello, hello, hello!" He stretched with a groan. "Ahh. What a damn nice night." He started to walk forward, thumbs hooked into the loops of his jeans. "You all know the drill. Due to your recent decisions, everything has changed. And yet, nothin' has changed. Everyone needs to hand over their guns. Gary, shoot that beautiful bastard if anyone tries anything. Same goes for everyone in the cars."

With that order, Saviours reached in and took our weapons, their lights shinning in our faces. The coffin from the truck was dragged over and set on the trunk of car. It was all we could look at if we didn't want to see the state jerry was in.

Glare set in stone, I watched as Simon headed towards me window. He sighed before bending down and leaning against the car to look inside.

"How'd you get out?" I asked, voice tense and full of venom.

"Three guesses." He shrugged when I didn't respond. "Well, let's just say we figured it out."

"What'd you do to the others-"

He cut me off before I could finish. "Oh, yes! That's exactly where I was going next. Right now, Kingdom is getting its innards splayed out for the world to see. And the Saviours will be taking possession of that property, starting tonight. Same with Alexandria. As long as they don't make it complicated. But Hilltop? The farmers? The breadbasket of our nascent civilization? It's your lucky day. You've been chosen to keep producing. Gregory made a little bit of a fool out of me in front of the big man, so I am hoping that you are the one to make things right."

He paused, leaning back to listen to something in the distance. It was music, coming from the direction of the Sanctuary.

"You hear that? I need you to shift into active listening," He told me as a wide grin found it's way back onto his lips. "Eugene! Who, by the way, I was admittedly sceptical of, but, man, worked out like gangbusters. He helped us get out of the situation with the masses of the cold and impolite. And now my guys are leading the rest of the herd away. So this can go one of two ways.

"One, I can kill this likable gent on his knees over there, drag you out of this car, and put you in this box." He pulled back to knock on the coffin. "Hmm? In which you will not suffocate to death like your friend. Sasha." He leaned back into the car and continued on, "And then we take you to Hilltop, gather everyone up, and kill you in front of the whole place. And then drag you back to Sanctuary and put on the spike in front of HQ. And then my people will lead the walker herd to the Hilltop and pull off the same move that your people tried unsuccessfully at our place.

"What a pain in the ass for everyone concerned. Hmm?" He shrugged. "Or two, you turn around, go home, start watering that sorghum, save everyone, and, most importantly, me, a lot of trouble. And, yeah we're gonna have to kill one of your people. But then we're aces." Stepping back from the car, he turned to the Saviour pressing a gun to Jerry's head. "Nah, Gary. I got this."

The shot rang through the car as Neil's head exploded. Simon had shot him. He'd killed him. Without warning or hesitation.

Snarling, Simon leaned in close. "I just really needed you to know what I was talkin' about. I need you to smell it. Now tell me I don't got to kill this gent with the lustrous mane. Tell me I don't got to go down the line! Tell me, Maggie!" He barely gave me a moment to respond. "Gary!"

A gun cocked as Gary got ready to do the same to Jerry as Simon had done to Neil.

"No!" I cried, stopped Gary in his tracks. "You don't need to do any of it." Tense, tears brimming my eyes, I swallowed it all as I shifted in my seat. Now was not the time to snap. It was not the time to react. Not now. "I just want to ask you a favour."

"What is that?"

"I'd like that box. Take Neil home, to bury him in."

Simon nodded. "Favour granted."

Pulling away from the car one more time, he headed towards the truck and got in without looking back. The other Saviours followed suit, leaving the rest of us there to turn around and head back home.

VPOV

Carl was taking charge. We were all alert, listening to him as he spouted orders, a plan already firm in his head.

"You need to make it look like we're escaping out back," he explained as he scavenged for things we might need out of the little amount of supplies we had at Alexandria. "Get to the woods, halfway to the quarry, and cut the lights. Get enough of a lead on them, hit them, and get away on foot. You know where we'll be. Just have to get the guns, get everyone else here, and we'll meet you there."

The plan was simple enough. A group of us would make it out, just a little ways down the road, not too far from home. Then we'd trap as many Saviours as we could and shoot them down. Meanwhile everyone else would be home, being ushered into the sewers while Carl kept Negan distracted.

There was a problem, though. I had a problem… I didn't want him doing it on his own.

Carl was my baby brother. I'd been in the hospital the day he'd been born. I was there the day Otis shot him. I was there for him after we lost Mum. He'd been there for me, too. We I was found months after the farm it was Carl that I reconnected with first.

He was my lifeline, my childhood, my… my best friend. Before the world crashed and burned, and after it all went to hell, Carl and I had been there for each other.

Was I really ready to leave him here knowing there would be nothing I could do when the Saviours eventually broke down the walls?

"Two minutes, people!" Negan's voice rang, pulling me out of my head. "Dig deep. I want these apologies to be memorable. Bonus points for creativity. Work up a poem, sing a song. I love that shit."

Carl turned to those who were staying to get our people to safety. "Get going. There's gonna people in the infirmary. They're gonna need your help." They ran off without question.

Tara stepped forward then. "Look, we got guns. We can fight them."

Rosita shook her head. "We will, but not now. Carl's right."

Surveying the area, taking in our home, Michonne turned to my brother. "Carl, we can't just let them have this place."

"We can," he assured her.

It was just a place. Just one more place we'd called home. But as I'd come to realise just a few weeks ago, it wasn't really a home.

Home was wherever my people were. Home was wherever Aly rested her head at night. Home was wherever Judith would grow up. Home is wherever Daryl was. This place was just that, a place, and it was replaceable. The people here weren't.

"Carl's right." I looked to the rest of the people gathered around. Tara, Rosita, Michonne, Daryl, Carl. "This place can burn and we'll be fine. We always end up fine. This isn't about saving our home, it's about saving our people.

Carl nodded. "All you need to do is survive tonight." His gaze landed on Michonne as he stepped towards her. "This is my show. You said it. This is my plan, and you're gonna do it. You're all gonna do it. So let's go!"

I grabbed Carl's arm before he could run off. The others went to do their jobs, except Daryl. He waited for me.

"I can't leave you here to do this by yourself."

He looked down at my hand as I continued to hold him in place, before he looked up to meet my eyes. "You can't stay here. If this doesn't work out, if I fall… Dad needs you. Everyone needs you."

I glared at him, feeling tears sting my nose. "Don't talk like you know whats gonna happen. Don't talk like you're already dead."

"One minute!" Negan called. "One. Minute."

Pulling me in for a hug, he gave me a quick but tight squeeze. "I'll see you when you get back." Slipping from my grasp, he then ran off.

I watched as he hurried for the gate, towards the enemy.

"Vic." Daryl's hand landed on my shoulder. "We gotta go. Come on."

Swallowing the tears that threatened to spill, I turned and let him lead me towards the others. If Carl was going to be in charge then I was going to make sure his plan went as smoothly as possible. I wasn't letting us lose anyone tonight.

NPOV

"Okie dokie. Brought this on yourself, Rick," I called on the megaphone as I paced in front of Alexandria's gate. "See, was willing to work with you. All you had to do was follow a few very simple rules. Now? Well, now I see that you got to go. Scorched earth, you dick!"

"He's not home."

My people spun around, aiming their guns up at the lookout, where someone now stood. Someone I did not expect.

"Oh-ho-holy shit! Everybody hold your fire," I ordered, grinning up at the kid. "It's Carl." They all did as I said, however the guns remained trained on the kid. "Look at you. Answering the door like a big boy. I am so proud. Daddy's not home, huh? What about big sis Vickie? My girl in there somewhere?" I asked looking to the gate, waiting for it to open.

Ignoring my questions, he did something I did not expect from him. He tried to convince us to hold fire. "There's families in here. Kids. My little sister and niece."

The smile fell from my lips. "Well, that shit just breaks my heart. There's kids at the Sanctuary," I countered. "You must've seen 'em. Even had a little baby at one of the outposts. I wonder what happened to her."

Gracie. She was one of the worker's kids and now she was gone. There was no body, so she wasn't dead. At least I hoped not. I wondered if she was on the other side of the walls. I wondered if that was where Vickie was. She was a killer, but she was a mother, she'd protect all the babies until she had nothing left in her.

"None of this shit's fair, kid. Hell, you know that. You had to kill your own mum. That is screwed up. Ergo, we need someone in charge who's willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that shit doesn't happen." I shrugged. "Oh. Wait. That's me."

"Bad stuff does happen, but we can figure this out," he argued. "We can stop this."

"Oh, now you want to talk?" I dropped the megaphone, choosing to yell out at him instead. "See, your dad had it that I died. He gave my people a choice. Not me. Now we're gonna need a new understanding. Apologies, punish-"

He cut me off, "Kill me."

My blood ran cold. "What did you say?"

"If you have to kill someone, if there has to be punishment, then kill me. I'm serious."

"You wanna die?"

He shook his head. "No, I don't. But I will. It's gonna happen. And i-if me dying could stop this, if it can make things different… for us, for you, for all those other kids, it'd be worth it." I could see he was. I could hear it in his words, in his tone. There wasn't an ounce of a lie in him. "I mean, was this the plan? Was it supposed to be this way? Is this who you wanted to be?"

I couldn't do it. Not because of the deal I'd made with Vickie. No, that shit had folded the second this war started. No, I just couldn't kill the kid because I couldn't. I liked him. I wasn't lying when I said I'd want my son to be exactly like him if I'd had one.

He was a better man than his father, that's for sure.

"They got a convoy out. We're on 'em."

My eyes were drawn down to a Saviour behind me and their walkie talkie. The others we'd brought had been outside the other gate of the community to hold the people inside. By the sounds of things, that had gone according to plan.

As I looked back up, the kid was gone.

"Son of a bitch, Carl! Was that just a play?! I thought we were havin' a moment, you little asshole!" I turned to my people. "Bombs away!"

VPOV

I was crouched in the bushes with Daryl, Michonne, Rosita and Tara. We were waiting, knowing it was only a matter of time before the Saviours who had followed us found us. At the same time, though, I knew it was only a matter of time before shit hit the fan back at home. The longer we were out here the more at risk are people were.

My daughter.

My sister.

My brother.

My people.

"They didn't get out because of what we did with the truck." Tara's voice had us all turn to her.

"Even if they did, it was just a mistake," Rosita assured her. "And I made one, too. If I hadn't gone to the Sanctuary to kill Negan, maybe Sasha would still be alive. Maybe she would've gone herself. Maybe everything would've ended up going exactly the same way. I didn't want you guys to do it, but maybe you needed to. Maybe you needed to play things out to figure shit out."

I was not blaming anyone. I had a feeling things would have gone to hell even if the other's hadn't gone back to the Sanctuary despite the plan. Negan always had a way of getting his way. I'd seen it time and time again.

"Where the hell are they?" Michonne was growing impatient. We all were.

The sound of vehicles approaching had as all duck down a little more as Daryl watched, waiting for our moment. Rosita snuck up to the edge of the road, throwing a smoke bomb out in the middle of it. The cars didn't stop, though, not until they were covered by the fog.

"Now!" Daryl called.

We all aimed and fired, shooting down the unprepared Saviours as they tried to scurry to safety. Shooting down one each, Daryl and Michonne took two more down before we turned to the last couple.

Laura and Dwight.

"That's why you didn't want to block the gate with the trucks. That's why you drove right up to this! It was you! All of it!" Laura yelled, taking a shot at Dwight. "You tell them to stop!"

Aiming my gun, I caught sight of her and pressed my finger to the trigger. She was quick though, ducking out of the way as if sensing danger. She ran off into the bushes, leaving Dwight on the road. Whether he was alive or not we weren't sure.

"It's over!" Dwight called.

Pulling myself out of the dirt, I took the lead. The second I saw him I knew he was fine. "You'll live."

"Maybe not," Daryl grunted as he stormed up to Dwight and pressed his gun to his head.

Dwight's hands were up in surrender right away. "I made sure you guys could get out the back. I drove the convoy right up to the roadblock. I knew what it was. I can't go back. One of 'em got away. She's gonna tell them."

Daryl didn't let up, though. "How'd they get out? Was it what I did?"

"Eugene."

I knew it. I knew they would have figured out something, and of course it was because of the one who had betrayed us. Eugene had been a sight for sore eyes when I'd been at the Sanctuary, but now he was just a thorn in my ass.

"I can still help you," Dwight offered frantically, knowing his life was at risk.

I could have saved him with one word. He had helped me while I'd been away from my family. He'd helped me escape. I could have spared his life like he'd done mine. I didn't make a move to, though. This was Daryl's fight.

"I know how they work, how Negan thinks." Dwight was scrambling now. "I want you to win. I want Negan to die. And we can settle up after."

Reaching forward, I rested a hand on Daryl's shoulder. "He's right. We'll settle this later. Right now I need to make sure our family is safe."

Michonne nodded as she started grabbing guns from the bodies of the people we'd shot down. "We need to get back."

Bamby