Sadie's POV

By the time we led that bitch, Jadis, and her little trash dweller brigade up to The Sanctuary, there appeared to be nothing and no one else in the surrounding area.

Nothing but piles and piles of the dead ones….or so we thought, anyway.

"Different from the pictures." Jadis remarked.

I had half a mind to deliver on that punch to the face that I had joked with Gareth about before I sent him over there, but we were greeted by the gunfire of that bastard's look outs before I could even finish chaining the thought together, let alone act on it.

I grabbed Gareth by the arm and we both booked it for the nearest cover, assuming that Jadis and her assholes would follow suit.

Once we were shielded enough, I started to shout out to Jadis just before poking my head up just in time to see them all taking off in the other direction.

"FUCKING bitch!" I muttered to myself.

Just as we were scrambling for our next move, a van pulled up just across us for our rescue.

As soon as I jumped in the front passenger seat, and Gareth in the seat just behind that, I registered that it was Tyra in the front seat, accompanied by that king's right hand man. Jerry, I think it was.

"They got out." I panted, catching my breath. "Those sons of bitches got out, but it hasn't been long. We have to warn everyone, they're gonna hit back.

"We can get the cars near the East lookout and split up." Tyra suggested.

"We might have to get other rides." Jerry added. "..the snipers probably used theirs to get away."

"I don't think they got away." Gareth corrected.

I shook my head. "I don't think they did either."

As it was already dark by the time I made it back to Alexandria, the air around me thick with fog and the sounds of explosions going off in the distance, I was quickly losing my hope in the idea that I might make it back in time to warn everyone of The Saviors' impending arrival.

Basically abandoning the idea, I raised my crossbow and began to book it back to the house where Gareth and I had planned to meet back up at.

When I got there, it was the eerie chill of silence throughout the place that put me off before the seemingly empty darkness that accompanied it did.

Jett should've started barking the second that door so much as creaked open, one of the few things that had become consistent enough that I often joked that this lovable mutt just might be as fucked up from his own trials in this life as I was.

"Gar?" My voice, just barely above a whisper as I began to call out to see who else….if anyone...was here.

"...Alex? T?!" I continued on until I was jumped at the next corner I turned.

"JESUS!" I shouted out as I began to process who had just knocked me onto my hands and knees.

"Nope, just me." Negan's voice remarked snidely. "This shit isn't funny anymore, Sadie. I told you before, I don't like killing women.." He kicked me back down before I could finish pulling myself up to my feet. "...and not only are you making me do that, I am going to cut you up into itty bitty pieces to feed you to the dead and make you watch!"

Ohh, if only he could realize the extent of the absolute IRONY in that idea.

I snickered softly to myself at the thought as he continued to ramble on.

"...and once you're nothing but a creepy stump with a pretty little head…" He boasted as he started to swing at me. "..that's when I'm gonna kill you. In front of everybody!"

"You ever shut your fucking mouth?!" I spat back at him, finally pulling myself up.

"Nope!" He declared, swinging that precious bat of his at me...and missing.

Of course, he went on boasting, as if the miss had been intended.

"...see, that's the thing we have in common, Sadie."

"I am NOTHING like you!" I growled back, yanking the bat and jabbing him in the ribs with it when I shoved it back at him.

"Damn…" I gasped, collecting myself as I watched him struggle to stay standing. "...missed."

"Yeah….maybe not." He chuckled. "...cause maybe if you were, your little partner in crime wouldn't have volunteered himself to die like he did. Did you know he did that, Sadie? ...the hell kind of role model are you, anyway? Is that the way you intend to raise your own boy- "

I cut him off at that, took my crossbow, and rammed the butt of it right at his crotch, bringing him to his knees.

"You don't talk about my boys." I warned as I watched his pathetic ass writhe on the floor.

I kept my composure though still couldn't help but scoff to myself at the thought.

Of fucking COURSE Carl would pull some shit like that.

"Well, I will let you know when I am damn good and ready to care about who you think I can talk about! I will take that little prodigy of yours and fix him, make him one of my top guys, you just wait and- "

I took his bat from him before he knew what was happening and swung it right back at him, knocking him back down.

"That boy...is not anyone's fucking prodigy." I corrected. "..not mine….and not fucking yours!" I swung at him again, but this time he yanked it back, throwing me off balance. I stopped myself from falling again as I grabbed onto the nearby wall.

"YOU KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF HER!" His voice echoed through the house.

I steadied myself enough to lunge for his throat, catching him off guard as I gripped him in a chokehold.

"Easy enough...you'll do just fine!" I spat back.

"Ohh, when I am done with you, Sadie, no one is gonna pull the kind of shit you have, not EVER AGAIN! Not your friends, not your boys, not your husband…""

Gareth.

His name echoed back in my mind, as I finally remembered again what I'd returned here in the first place for.

I tightened my grip around the bastard's neck and threw him out of my grip where he crashed out a nearby window, booking it in the other direction once he pulled himself back up.

"SHIT." I muttered to myself.

I stepped out through the window, myself, as I took my gun and fired a few shots off in his direction before taking off in the other one to go back to finding Gareth and the others.

When I finally caught up with him, he was finishing off one of the Saviors with his knife, only stopping once I'd called his attention away from what was now a bloody corpse on the ground beneath him.

"Gar…" I said, throwing my arms around him.

"There you are." He chuckled, holding me as he breathed his own sigh of relief.

He gently broke away from me to confirm to what he must've noticed before, just slightly more concerned. "Are you okay? You look like shit."

"Oh, like you're such hot stuff right now." I teased. "...anyway, not important. Where's Alex? Where are the others?"

"Somewhere safe." He reassured me. "...you can thank the kid for it later, I'll take you there."

"Okay."

The kid?