Chapter 21-The war begins

Rick's P.O.V

Deanna screamed as Spencer's body fell to the ground, and the group started to shoot at the saviors. Simon quickly grabs one of his soldiers and uses him as a shield as he gets behind a truck. They hear Simon over the gunfire. "That is one man dead already," Simon says into the blowhorn. "How many more have to die before you give me what I want! Two days, I would bring Negan to the Santuararcy if I were you," Simon says as he nods to Jared, who whistles, and the saviors start to throw smoke grenades on the ground. They hear the truck engines, and by the time the smoke clears. The saviors were gone.

"Dammit!" Negan growls.

"He was just showing us what he could do, that he knows about us, trying to scare us," Rick says as Deanna climbs down and pulls the gate open and runs over to Spencer's body, and flips him over.

"I'm sorry," Deanna says as she lays her head on his chest and cries.

Daryl's P.O.V

Daryl dug a hole in the graveyard and looked at Glenn and Abraham as they walked up toward him. "How many did we lose?" Daryl asks.

"Two," Glenn says. "One from Hilltop, his name was Andy, and another from here. Maya and Spencer, of course."

"We should be putting him by Pete," Abraham says.

"He's Deanna's son," Daryl says. "I don't like him either, but he is her son. Have you seen her?"

"No," Abraham says. "I would say she needs a friend right now. We'll dig the graves."

Daryl nods as he hands Abraham the shovel and walks away. Daryl walks through Alexandria until he reaches Deanna's house and walks inside. He stops in the hallway and looks at Deanna, who is sitting on the couch with a gun on her table. "It's not for what you think," Deanna says as she shows him the cylinder, which has no bullets in it.

"I'm sorry about Spencer," Daryl says.

"Two months ago, this house had four people living in it. Now only one does," Deanna says. She looks at him. "I'm not trying to put that blame on you or Rick or Negan. I just didn't think it would go this way."

"Yeah, you know, after all of this is over, the saviors that do live, they might want to move to different communities, have a fresh start. We're running out of places to put them. This house is too big for one person. Merle, Rosita, and I could come over and open up another place. Only if that's okay with you."

Deanna looks at him and smiles. "That's okay," Daryl nods as he goes towards the door. "Daryl," He looks at her. "Thank you," He nods before he leaves the house.

Simon's P.O.V

Simon sat in his chair with a grin on his face as Arat, Jared, Gary, Jed, and Justin stared at him. "What's the plan?" Gary asks.

"Nothing," Simon says.

"What the hell do you mean?" Jared asks.

"I gave them two days to bring me, Negan, and they will bring me Negan."

"How do you know?" Justin asks.

"You think I killed that stupid prick for no reason? No his mother, Deanna, she is weak, her son knew, and I knew it. She lost her son, her husband, and now her other son. She has nothing. She'll give me Negan so she can save the rest of her people, you'll see. Negan doesn't know which outposts are still in use. We've won."

They nod as they leave the room.

Carol's P.O.V

"Carol," Jesus says as he runs up to the woman.

"What is it?" Carol asks as Jesus holds a piece of paper out to her. Carol takes it. "What is this?" Carol asks.

"A list of outposts," Jesus says.

"Where was it?" Carol asks.

"Under of the bodies. My guess is that Arat left it there."

"Carol, it's time for the meeting," Abraham says.

"Come on," Carol says as they go towards Rick's house, where Rick, Ezekiel, Daryl, Negan, Gavin, T-dog, Laura, Carol, Jesus, Abraham, Glenn, and Deanna stand inside Rick's house. "Where are Rosita and Merle?"

"Moving our stuff into Deanna's house," Daryl says as Carol sets the paper down on the table, and Rick grabs it.

"What is this?" Rick asks as he hands it to Negan.

"It's Outpost locations. How the fuck did you get these?" Negan asks Carol.

"Arat," Carol says.

"Arat turned on Simon?" Gavin asks.

"She did let us go," Laura says. "She stayed with him to survive. She must still want you leading the saviors."

"This is great," Rick says. "Good job," Rick says to Carol, who nods. "Simon expects us to give Negan up because of what happened outside the gate to Spencer, they expect that to make us crack, but it won't. We're gonna end this war. Abraham, take Sasha, Tara, and Paula, go out towards the highways, and find a herd. We're going to box them in there while we deal with the outposts."

"Why don't we just take them all out at once? We have the firepower and the manpower."

"Because we don't need to," Daryl says. "Killing all of 'em doesn't help up. The only person that needs to die is Simon, we make sure he dies, and Negan takes control again. That's the whole plan,"

"I'll get the others," Abraham says as he walks away.

"Once Abraham finds a herd, we hit the Sanctuary, lead the herd there. Simon is so sure that we'll give Negan up that it gives us two days. We'll sort out groups, we'll attack the Sanctuary, and then we'll take out the Outposts, and then Simon will give up, cause he'll have no other choice, and if he doesn't, they'll give him up to survive," Rick says.

"Then let's get to work," Daryl says.

Carl's P.O.V

Carl poured gas on the pile of dead saviors. "Carl," Ron says as he walks up behind him. "Your Dad wants to see you."

Carl nods as he lights a match and throws it onto the pile of bodies, and follows Ron back into Alexandria. "Did you hit any?" Carl asks him.

"I don't know. We were all shooting. I could have," Ron says as they find Rick talking with Jessie.

"What is it, Dad?" Carl asks.

"I need you and Ron to stay here when we go after the saviors,"

"What?" They both ask.

"Dad, we need to be there," Carl says.

"No, you don't," Rick says.

"Rick, he's right."

"No, Ron, you both are staying," Jessie says.

"Are you going?" Ron asks.

"Yes," Jessie says. "We are taking most of our fighters with us. We need you two here to lead this place, just in case something happens."

"Please," Rick says.

Carl sighs but nods. "Okay, we'll stay."

"Thank you," Rick says as he pats their shoulders and leaves.

Negan's P.O.V

Negan stood outside of the gates staring at the burning pile of savior bodies. "You okay?" He turns around and looks at Michonne, who nods.

"I knew some of these men. They were a bunch of assholes," Negan says. "The saviors, their numbers have already been cut down, and now more are going to die. When this war is over, there will be no more saviors."

"Maybe that's a good thing," Michonne says, making him look at her. "The saviors, they have killed and spread fear. That is their legacy. Maybe when this is over, you should build a new group with a different legacy somewhere else."

"Maybe, I will," Negan says as he walks back into Alexandria.

Abraham's P.O.V

Abraham stopped his truck on a highway. "You see that?" Tara asks as she points at two cars with a string in between them.

"The saviors did that," Paula says. "That means there is a herd nearby."

"What are the strings for?" Sasha asks.

"To hold the bombs."

"Bombs?" Abraham asks Paula, who nods. "Come on," Abraham says as he climbs out of the truck and walks up to the two cars.

"Can you disarm these?" Tara asks Paula, who shakes her head.

"I can," Abraham says as he pulls the metal grate out after he disarms it. "Take these off slowly. Then we go. That horde should stick to the highway."

They nod as they start to work.

Glenn's P.O.V

Glenn walked towards the graveyard and looked at Merle as he put a cross in the ground. "What are you doing out here?" Glenn asks the older Dixon brother.

"Putting a cross on this asshole's grave. Deanna asked me to," Merle says. "I do have a heart, regardless of what you may think, Glenn."

"What kind of shit did you do for Negan?" Glenn asks.

"The shit I had to so I could survive," He answers. "Just like the rest of you. You have all done some pretty horrible shit."

"I've never killed anybody."

"You've gotten lucky," Merle says. "By the end of this, you will, if you wanna protect your wife and that baby."

"I'll protect them," Glenn says firmly.

"I hope so. I know you've changed, Glenn. But I hope it's more than this because this is disappointing," Merle says before he pushes past him and walks away.

Daryl's P.O.V

Daryl walked into the armory and looked at Dwight. "What are you doing?" Daryl asks.

"Getting more ammo for the gate," Dwight tells him.

"I got a question for you," Daryl says. "You were with Simon for a few days after he betrayed Negan. Do you know what Outpost he would put the most saviors in?" Daryl asks as he holds the list out to Dwight, who takes it and nods.

"This one," Dwight says. "The satiate building, closet to Hilltop, and it's where Simon used to live. He cares about it."

"Good," Daryl says.

"Why?" Dwight asks.

"Because I'm going hit that one," Daryl says as he leaves.

Deanna's P.O.V

That night Deanna stood on her porch and stared at the roads of Alexandria. "You doing okay, boss lady?" Negan asks as he walks down the street.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Deanna says as Negan walks up to the porch.

"I'm sorry," Negan says. "For Spencer."

"That's not your fault. That was Spencer's fault and only his," Deanna says. "You wanna make it for it? Beat him to death with that bat."

"You got it, boss lady," Negan says before he walks away.

Thanks for reading. Next chapter, the group will attack the saviors, and the war will continue. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.