Gareth's POV

"Weeelll, shit! Negan boasted when he finally emerged, followed by four of his little goons….as Sadie would've called them. "...I was in a meeting!"

As I stood just behind her, I didn't even need to see her face to know the rage that must've been in her eyes as she was clearly fighting to bite her tongue at the bastard's remarks.

"...I see you brought your little mud flaps with ya." He continued on. "...So, I'm nooot exactly seein a reason for us to try throwing lead at each other. I care about my people, I'm not just gonna march them into the line of fire because I wanna play my dick is bigger than anyone's…" He shot his next look at me, which I couldn't tell if it was really to tick me off, after the remarks he made that day he was at the house or if was purely to get Sadie's goat...probably both. "...it is...we both know it. But I'm also comfortable enough to accept the fact if it wasn't. I'm certainly not gonna let my people die over that shit….like you're about to. So, Sadie! What the hell can I do for you?"

Sadie pointed out to the four behind him, as she redirected her focus onto them.

"Dwight!" She announced. "...your name's Simon, you're Gavin….and you…."

She hesitated, waiting for the fourth to introduce herself.

"Regina!" She answered.

Sadie nodded. "You four….the saviors inside, you all have a chance to survive here, to survive this. You all can live if you just surrender. Can't guarantee it anytime but now! Right now."

"So they surrender….and you and your little piss patrol don't kill them." Negan chuckled. "...that sounds like a good deal! What about me, Sadie?"

"I already told you….twice." She nearly growled back. "You know what's gonna happen."

"Oh I do. I do know what's gonna happen, you don't! You have no idea about the shit that's about to go down." He boasted back. "...Tell me something, Sadie…..you really think you have the numbers for this fight? You don't."

He then ordered the one called Simon to go back in and bring out a vaguely familiar man whose presence seemed to make Sadie almost even more livid than before.

I moved my hand to gently pull her back by the shoulder a little in an attempt to cool her off.

I glanced over at Maggie, who was looking back toward Jesus now, who appeared to have a more disappointed look on his face than anything.

"Of course that's where he went." He said quietly.

"What do you have to say to Sadie and the piss patrol, Gregory?" Negan declared proudly.

"The Hilltop stands with Negan and The Saviors." Gregory announced. "...any resident of The Hilltop who takes up arms or who supports this ultimatum against The Sanctuary or any of The Saviors, for that matter, they will no longer be welcome in the colony."

"And?" Negan prodded.

"...and their families will be thrown out and will be left to fend for themselves." Gregory added. "...Go home now, or you won't have a home to go back to."

Maggie turned to some of her people. "You do what you need to do."

Everyone continued to hold their positions.

Jesus shrugged. "All I have back at The Hilltop are a bunch of books and an old lobster bib."

Maggie smiled back at him as Negan started rambling on again.

"You heard the man!" He shouted. "...go back to separating wheat and shit or whatever the hell it is you people do!"

"Doesn't look like anyone's goin, does it?!" Maggie shouted back.

Gregory seemed to be glaring at her and some others in the crowd for that.

"..The Hilltop stands with- "

"The Hilltop stands with Maggie!" Jesus interrupted.

There was a brief pause as some explosions started to go off in the distance.

"...Sounds like some shit is goin down, Sadie." Negan continued.

"You lieutenants!" Sadie called out, ignoring him. "...you're gonna have to make up your minds."

"..Maybe we can just take a time out.." One of them, I think his name was Gavin, started to suggest before Sadie cut him off.

"No! This has to happen now. This is the only way." She shook her head and looked back up at them when they wouldn't answer. "...You're gonna make me count?" She laughed. "Okay…"

She started counting backwards from ten but started shooting as soon as she got to seven, signaling for the rest of us to start sorting right along with her.

"Now!" Maggie shouted out.

A nearby car horn went off, as did several nearby explosions, so in all the commotion, I hadn't even noticed that Sadie had taken off in the opposite direction from me til I finally realized she had Negan basically cornered as he ducked down behind something. I called out to her as I raced up behind her.

"Sadie, Sadie!" I repeated, trying to pull her back when I caught up to her. "Hey! We have to go."

"So does he!" She growled as she continued to fire at him.

"Sadie, Honey….not yet. He's not yours to take out….right?" I reminded her, repeating back her own words that she'd promised on behalf of Maggie.

Only then, did she cease fire. She nodded to me then shot once more in Negan's general direction before letting me take her back to one of the cars, as we'd planned.

Our next course of action was to move onto one of The Saviors' outposts to find more guns, guided by the layout drawn up by Dwight for Daryl to pass onto us.

After checking almost all of the other floors, Sadie and I decided our best bet was to split up to look for them.

"Man, that guy is a piece of shit." She muttered under her breath before taking off.

"Yeah, well everything else he drew out for us has checked out so far." I pointed out.

"Well, for his sake, he'd better hope this does too."

"You can say that again." I chuckled.

She half smiled back and leaned in to kiss me. "See you on the other side. Be careful, alright?"

"I always am." I reassured her as she headed off.