Sorry it took a minute. Easter and all that...Also, thank you for the reviews!
"You good?" Abraham asked Daryl as they drove away from the Hilltop.
"Yeah."
"Gonna be gone the night. Could turn 'round and grab the girls."
"Naw," Daryl said, even though he was looking in the rearview mirror, knowing Ani would be standing on the wall. "They'll be alright."
They traveled in silence for a bit before Abraham spoke up and asked, "So, you meant to get pregnant?"
"Never really did anything to stop it."
"Seriously?" Abraham asked, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to look at the man. "Why?"
"Just never thought about it. Thought she was already pregnant when we got around to talkin' about it."
"Huh. Bein' honest, me and Sasha's been talkin' about it. Never thought I'd want to do that all over again."
Daryl just hummed in response and then fell quiet, watching the walls of Hilltop disappear while hoping Ani would do what she was asked for once and stay there. She was always doing something other than what he wanted her to, but this was more important and she was starting to show. Her stomach was no longer flat and was starting to protrude farther than what she normally looked like when she was bloated, no matter how much she wanted to deny it. Every time he looked at her and noticed her stomach, a part of him felt so much pride that it was because his baby causing it and his wife carrying it. There was nothing more beautiful than seeing the proof that they were going to start a family together in the form of her belly starting to swell. He couldn't wait for the war to be over so that he could spend as much of his time as he could taking care of her and getting everything ready for when Lou arrived. They still needed to find a bunch of stuff for the baby, especially a crib or something for him to sleep in and clothes. If the war continued too long or if they lost, they wouldn't have enough time to do anything for the baby by themselves.
They stayed quiet until they got to the outskirts of town and Abraham told him it'd be better to walk from there so they didn't get spotted. It didn't take too long before the redhead to lead the hunter to a building across the street from where Eugene had told him he could make bullets. From the looks of things, the place had been up and running for a little while with several Saviors working to unload what looked like crates upon crates of empty shells. They weren't entirely sure if Eugene was there until he came outside with a tough looking woman and started directing the men unloading the crates. Abraham cussed out loud in a fit of anger only for Daryl to tell him to keep it down in case they got caught. It seemed like Ani was right; they wouldn't be able to go in without watching and waiting to make sure they weren't caught with the number of enemy soldiers there were. Daryl was trying to figure out how they would destroy the machines when another truck pulled up with even more casings. It was pretty obvious that the Saviors were gearing up for their final attack and they needed the bullets to cut through their people. With how they were moving, the Hilltop would only have a day or two, maybe three, to get their people ready to fight and their defenses set up. To make matters even worse, given how many bullets it seemed they were planning on making, they were going to be more than outnumbered in the final fight.
"Gonna be hard gettin' to those machines," Abraham commented. "Be easier to grab the man."
Daryl hummed once again before they fell silent and started watching the Saviors on the ground below while Eugene kept telling them where to put everything. It was pretty obvious that the man had been completely integrated into the other group so well that he was pretty high up in the chain. So much so that it seemed like he was the sole person running the machine shop, not simply the person making the bullets. With how much the man was doing and the fact that he was dressed a lot better than most of the Saviors working around him. They spent the night watching the endless stream of totes were carted between the truck and the building, both into and out of the machine shop. Daryl was getting irritated with every crate just as much as Abraham was starting to curse every time Eugene came out and directed the men. Abraham had been taking care of the man and protecting him over a damn lie and his efforts were being thrown to the side. It hadn't been a long time since Eugene had been taken and yet he was quite obviously integrated and comfortable with taking a leadership role for the enemy. Both men waiting in the building across the street were angrier than ever by the time the sun rose and they began making their move.
There were only a single guard beside the door when they snuck up towards the building, waiting for the right moment to strike. It didn't take too long before the door opened and another guard came out with Eugene following behind. Very quickly, Daryl put a bolt through the head of the guard in front, Eugene quickly turning around to make a run for the door only to see Abraham slitting the throat of the other guard, who fell to the ground as well. Abraham roughly tore Eugene's rifle from him while Daryl held the man at gunpoint and pushed him forward by the back of his collar. The taller man took the rear to make sure no more Saviors came up from behind as they moved away from the machine shop. It didn't take long for them to be far enough away to be able to stop and zip tie his hands together. They moved quickly, keeping him between the two as they rushed away from the building in an attempt to make it look like Eugene had run. Negan needed to think he was as much a traitor to the Sanctuary as he had been to them and their friends after everything they had done for him. All Eugene had done in return was betray the people who had kept him safe, taught him how to fight, and treated him with respect.
They had gotten far enough away to not need to run by the time Eugene spoke up, telling them, "I can't help but suspect that the reason I'm being taken alive is, despite...what completely warranted bad blood exists between us, you still harbor a vestigial nostalgia for our erstwhile camaraderie. And in light of that, I'm willing to just shut my grub flap and give you your space until you see such a time as you're ready to break the ice," he said, not noticing Daryl pulling his knife in anger, "one traveling companion to ano-"
"Shut your mouth before I cut your tongue out!" Daryl told him, the blade right in the terrified man's face.
"Daryl!" Abraham said, pulling the two apart. "We ain't got time for bullshit. Gotta get to the car and get the hell out of here. Those assholes gotta know he's gone."
Daryl stared the man down before turning around, hearing him thank Abraham only for the redhead to threaten Eugene himself. He took a couple steps before turning around and waiting for the two men to start following him back to the car. All Daryl could think about was the fact that one of the people Ani had put her faith in was responsible for everything that had happened. Rosita's death and Alexandria being destroyed was because the man had decided helping the Saviors was more important than his friends. His actions were the trigger for Ani being on the verge of having preeclampsia, a kind of high blood pressure that could hurt the baby. If they left the man with the Saviors, he'd help them even more and destroy yet another home that they were trying to build. Eugene was nothing more than a coward who didn't care about anything other than himself and saving his own skin. He didn't care that the Hilltop, Alexandria, and the Kingdom had more young children than the Sanctuary had kids in general. He didn't care that Maggie and Ani were expecting or if they were even alive at this point with how he kept blabbering on as they walked about the 'fact' that he was working with Simon and Dwight. But Dwight had betrayed them with the attack on the Hilltop and all they knew about Simon was that he had helped Sophia when she'd been in trouble. Simon could very well be working an angle like Dwight had and Eugene would say just about anything to stay safe. That was especially held true when he admitted that, after being treated well by the Saviors, he had been willing to bend the knee because that was who he was. Daryl was about to go off on the coward again when Abraham grabbed Eugene by the front of his shirt close to his neck and all but lifted him off his feet while getting in his face.
"I don't give a rat's ass what you say," he growled in his face, neither Daryl nor Abraham believing a single word that came out of Eugene's mouth. "All you are is a skid mark on the shit stain that is life. Your hand helped kill Rosita. Made Ani almost lose her pup. Screw two communities all to hell. And it's all 'cause you're such a coward lookin' to save his own ass that you covered yourself in shit to do it. Keep runnin' your mouth and I'll make sure to break it," he finished, throwing the man ahead of him.
"Rick's the one who pushed us all to take the Saviors on," Eugene said after realizing the men wouldn't listen to hearsay and hoping they would at least see logic. "He's the one who jumped headlong into this shit-storm with no waders. Him and Ani both. They're the ones to bl-"
Daryl turned around ready to kill the man, but Abraham already had his gun pressed to Eugene's forehead, "You ain't nothin' but a fuckin' turncoat dingleberry stuck to Negan's asshole. You don't care about shit else but yourself. Everyone who helped you, all the people that died from Texas 'til now. It's all because you lied and acted like we should be kissin' your ass for gettin' us here. If I were more a fool, I'd shoot you in the head right now and not give two shits whether or not those bastard hear it. Only reason you're still alive right now is 'cause you know shit we need to know. No one gives a rats ass whether you see the sun again. We don't give a damn 'bout what you say. You're gonna get buried in a hole where everyone forgets you even exist 'til we need you to teach us how to do somethin'. We're gonna keep you alive, just like you want. But you ain't gonna be sittin' around like you're all that and a bag of chips like the pathetic little bitch you are."
Eugene was clearly upset and dismayed by the situation he was in, but as Abraham pushed the man ahead of him and they resumed their journey, neither of the other men cared. Even if what he had claimed about working with Simon was true, it wasn't as if anyone trusted that guy either. Nothing Eugene said would change their minds about what they were going to do with him now that they had the proof that he would only ever think of himself. He took no responsibility or accountability when it came to his actions and instead somehow continued to think he had the moral high ground. It was almost laughable how he kept trying to grasp at straws thinking that they would believe him. What had set both Abraham and Daryl off was the fact that he put the blame solely on Ani and Rick when it had been a group decision and Eugene had seen firsthand what Negan was willing to do. The fact that he justified the reason behind him being so willing to join the Saviors being that he wasn't tortured or killed after seeing Glenn's head bashed in and being beaten himself was even more infuriating to the pair of men escorting him. Daryl, in particular, was happy that the man had finally fallen quiet after Abraham's outburst and remained that way as they got to the car.
"They must've heard us pull up," Daryl said upon seeing the car surrounded by half a dozen walkers. "I got it. Watch him," he told Abraham as he got to work clearing them out one by one.
He didn't see so much as hear Abraham exclaim, "You cock-suckin' son of a biscuit muncher! I'm gonna blow your head off!"
As soon as he turned around, he heard the automatic the redhead was carrying going off and several more walkers on the ground. Abraham's front was covered in puke when Daryl walked up and helped the man tear down a part of the wooden fence so they could get through. It had all taken about five minutes from the time they got the walkers cleared and through the fence, a graveyard of ashes and scorched bones greeting them. There were clear tracks through the ash and Daryl knew that the man wasn't much of a runner. As it was, they still needed to find him before Eugene decided to head back to the machine shop and resume production. The Saviors couldn't have learned how to make the bullets on their own properly so quickly and therefore still needed the asshole to operate. Daryl eventually couldn't find the trail as the ash tapered off and the road became devoid of debris to guide their way. Abraham suggested they head back towards the outpost to see if the bastard had made it back, but before they could get within two blocks of the building, they had to give up. Eugene had definitely been able to get back to the Saviors with the number of patrols they started to encounter. Cussing the entire way back to the Hilltop, they were both even more pissed off than they had been when they left. An entire day had been wasted trying to get that traitorous bastard away from the Saviors to negate a part of the problem and neither man was looking forward to telling their women that fact.
~x~
"I came back here to make amends," Gregory said as he sat at the table in his smug little suit.
"You made me look like an ass," Simon corrected.
Gregory sighed before trying to explain himself, "My intel wasn't correct. You know, things changed at Alexandria. Juice. Juice and momentum can change the game. They had it, and they did it. Margaret had the Hilltop by the nuts. I didn't know it. And, yes, we paid the price," he admitted. "But let me make it right with Negan, hmm?"
"Negan is no longer of concern," was Gregory's reply. "There's going to be some changes to the man in charge soon enough, so Negan isn't the one you have to make it up to."
"You? Are you gonna be the man, then?"
"That remains to be seen. But it is the most logical conclusion we can come to."
Gregory leaned forward and picked up the glass of whiskey Simon had offered him and smiled, "I knew it. I knew you could do it. Negan is a big personality, I get it, but, uh, too unconventional."
"You think he pulled his punches?" Simon asked as he sat back.
"Exactly," the man said. "Whereas you are the kind of man people can look at and say, 'there is a leader.' Much better than Margaret and that Ani girl. She's like Negan; big personality, but not all there," Gregory said while shaking his head, not noticing Simon's change in demeanor. "Prone to violence, too. I mean, look at my face! She broke my nose for no good reason."
"Oh, I can think of a few reasons she would do that," Simon responded. "For starters, you're a sleazy, slimy coward who only cares about saving his own ass. The juice is in my ball court now. My...associates and I want to keep it. What reason do I have to keep you around?"
"Do you really think these Troglodytes here are gonna advise you in managing communities, in resource reallocations? In politics?" Gregory asked as he became more and more irritated. "That's right, yeah, the bare-knuckle gnad mash of politics?"
"I don't need you for that, Gregory. And if I'm seen going nice on you, I lose my upper hand. Politics."
"No!" the older man shouted. "I've achieved too much! I-I-I suffered too much! I've survived too much for it to end like this! I've lashed myself to the bow, seen through the storm, and I have been reborn as a-a certified shit kicker! I make things happen! I've always made things happen! And it's not gonna end with me wandering off into the wilderness with my dick in my hand. I put things together when everything fell apart, and I can do it again. I will do it again. I will retake the Hilltop from those women and I will bring order back to the chaos! You really think you've got the juice?" Gregory asked, his hubris getting the better of him. "Well, I am the juice!"
Simon didn't take too kindly to the way the old leader of Hilltop got in his face and tried to make him feel less powerful than he really was. There was nothing Gregory could do for him anymore and the older man was only a liability if he allowed him to keep breathing. If Gregory was in the Hilltop when the little girl got back or when old one-hand took the truck with the supplies, Simon was the one in the position to lose the most. Hell, he already had been told by Negan that he was walking a fine line thanks to how Gary had screwed him over. He still had to deal with the situation involving Gary before Negan decided that he was the one who had to be punished. There was a lot that was riding on him managing the problems that he found himself in between both Hilltop and the Sanctuary. Simon knew that the only way he was going to be able to leave the Sanctuary with his life intact was to either kill Gary or run to the Hilltop. Even then, he would have to hope and pray that Maggie would allow him to enter without killing him herself after what he had done. Making sure the Dixon girl got back to the Hilltop and giving them those supplies would only do so much to help his cause when he did make a run for it. The only reason he hadn't killed Gregory just yet was just in case he could find another use for the man. Nevertheless, Simon wouldn't tolerate the blatant disrespect Gregory was showing him in his attempt to make himself seem like the bigger man out of the two.
After slamming him into the ground, Simon very calmly told him, "First, you seem to think I'd just let you leave. That wasn't the plan. The plan was to kill you. Second, do you make coffee?" he asked for no real reason other than giving him a chance to stay alive just so that he could use him if he needed to.
"The best in the land," the man responded.
"We'll start with coffee and see where it goes."
He walked out of the room that he was staying in only to find Gary standing there looking rather irritated. Gary informed him that Negan was looking for him and expected him to go up to the meeting room as soon as possible. Simon took a deep breath, knowing that the time had come for him to face the music of what Gary had done against orders. He only had two options in front of him to keep from facing the bat himself; run for the Hilltop or kill one of the oldest followers he'd had with his own hands. Both situations still had a high chance of ending in his death, but at that point, there was nothing he could do to get out of the danger he was in. The karma from everything he had done was finally coming back around to bite him in the ass and he couldn't even be angry about it because he knew he deserved it. Twice now, his orders had been messed up and it had caused two different communities to be destroyed. First Arat and some of the now-dead members of his original group of Saviors taking his orders too far and then Gary completely destroying the Scavengers. Simon wouldn't be able to talk his way out of the trouble he was in and was going to have to face the music now that Negan had summoned him.
"Simon," the big man said as he entered the room. "Pull up a chair. Take a load off. Tell me what you plan to do about Gary."
"I know I messed up giving him such an important task," Simon told him in an attempt to smooth things over. "My orders were misconstrued and I will own that. I just ask that I be given another chance. I will make Gary make it up to you. I will."
"You know, I remember when I took this place," Negan began as he cleaned his bat and reminiscing about the first time Simon hadn't been clear enough in his orders. "When you helped me take this place. I wasn't sure I wanted to keep you on board. I mean, before me, before there was a proper system in place, what happened, all those men, all those boys in that settlement oh so long ago. Not stopping that massacre. Some might say that was some psychotic shit you let happen. Like, that was the work of some demented, broken goddamn ghoul. That is not the kind of person you want to work with let alone stand next to. So I figured I'd keep my eyes on you and make sure you and yours followed orders to a T. And I did. And you did...right up until this point," he told the man. "Gary might have done the deed, but it was you that let it happen, you that disobeyed orders," Negan sighed. "I'm gonna need you to kneel." He watched in silence with several other Saviors in the room, Dwight included, watched Simon kneel on the ground before he asked him, "You gonna make a move, or is that it?"
"No move to make," Simon told him.
"No," Negan agreed. "There isn't."
Simon knew that he had nothing left to do and that Gary had truly screwed him over with what he had to the garbage people. He'd been told that he had to make it right and instead he was being punished for disobeying Negan's orders. At least he'd been able to get the girl back to the Hilltop relatively safely and had given the people there the supplies they needed to hang on a while longer. There was nothing else that he could do to make things right for what Gary had done any more than he could make it right what happened at that old settlement. Orders were orders, but not being there to stop them from being carried out wrong had truly been his fault in the end both times he had given reigns to another. He waited for the feel of the bat to the back of his head without so much as a trace of fear on his face. Simon could see Dwight and a few of the others watching on in silence, waiting for the show Negan would put on to keep the others in line. The best he could hope for now was that Dwight would maintain their alliance with Eugene and somehow get word of Negan's next plan to the people who needed to plan for it. Whatever he was expecting, the last thing he thought Negan would do was show him leniency as the man told him everything was square. Simon silently breathed a sigh of relief as he climbed back into the chair and listened to Negan prepare the next assault.
After the meeting had concluded and he and Dwight shared a look at the fact that Negan wanted the blonde to stay behind, Simon went to find Gary to reprimand him once again. He berated him for what he did with the garbage people and how that decision had almost cost him his life. Simon had, once again, trusted the wrong person to carry out orders properly and he was the one that got screwed both times. The first time, he'd lost his position to Negan as soon as they created a proper home for their numbers. Arat, however, had been able to toe the line after that fiasco and had never misconstrued or carried out another order wrong in the two years since. That had definitely worked in his favor and was one of the reasons he had been able to become Negan's right hand man, although it would seem it was more to keep an eye on him rather than actually believe in his ability. He, himself, had followed orders perfectly up until he had decided to get the Dixon girl to safety. If the girl had been able to get to the Hilltop like ol' Stump-hand said she did, it was worth the risk he was taking now in working with Dwight and Eugene. As he made his way to Dwight's room, he couldn't help but wonder if Eugene had been able to figure out a way to slow down munition production long enough for him to figure out their next step.
He knocked on the door three times, waiting a moment each time, before it opened and he made his way inside, informing Dwight, "Meeting went well enough. Status quo has been re-achieved. What'd he hold you back for?"
"You know," Dwight answered, "a...pep talk."
"Hmm. We need to talk," Simon told him. "A serious talk. There are those who are less than thrilled with the current management, who, like you, engaged in activities said management would frown on, though in different ways."
"So what do we do?" Dwight asked after a moment.
"Considering who it is and who has agreed with him, we will convince them that we're on they're side. While I make a run for it with our favorite little wish-washer, you deliver the problematic individuals up to Negan. Whether he pins it on me or not, I'll be long gone. And you get to climb up the ranks. Make sure to keep us on the up and up."
"Where do we set it up?"
"I'll tell them to meet you in the courtyard after rounds," Simon answered.
"You sure this is the way you want to play it?"
"I'm sure."
~x~
Negan stood on the steps waiting for the perfect time to handle the situation he found himself in after finding an individual on the side of the road. It was then that he found out that the dirty little rat that had made the Sanctuary being attacked so efficiently happen. His money had been on Eugene, but Dwight, that son of a bitch, had told him that Laura had died along with all the other Saviors on his team that went after the Alexandria escapees. He'd told him that they were ambushed and he had only managed to get away after being shot and escaping into the swamps. He'd told him that he was Negan and swore he was loyal and now he couldn't even be sure if Dwight had actually killed Sherry. Knowing what he knew now, it was definitely Sherry who had set the Dixons free and it was after that that Dwight had decided to turncoat. Then the situation with Simon giving orders to another person who then decided that they could carry them out their own way. It wasn't as if he had done anything important or had anything to show for leaving Gary to take care of the matters Negan himself had given to the man. Two of his closest and most trusted officers had been betraying him right under his nose, whether by helping Rick or not following through with orders, and he had to bring them and the rest of the Saviors back to order.
He called a meeting of Dwight, Simon, Arat, Michael, Archie, and a few other Saviors to deal with at least two of the issues at hand. He needed to make sure Simon would not leave his orders in someone else's hands and wanted to get his next attack plan set up. And now that he knew what a sniveling, bitch-ass little dog Dwight was, he was more than happy to play into his little game. First thing first, though, he had to make sure that Simon understood what he did wrong and how he wouldn't be given a third chance. He'd already messed up with an old settlement back before the Sanctuary was actually the Sanctuary and he had yet to cement his power over the Saviors. Simon had been a rather loyal follower ever since that fiasco and had followed orders exactly for so long only to mess up at the height of their fight for order. They could have used the Scavengers to enact their next play and those people could have been useful even after that. People were a resource and thanks to Simon's negligence, he had lost an entire group that would have been able to get them all sorts of goods. Hell, the amount of scrap they could get from the junkyard would have been enough to keep the Sanctuary up and running as far as bullets went. Then again, without the Scavengers there, they wouldn't need to keep up with any promises he had made to the people. It was less than ideal that they had lost all those people to work for them but, at the same time, it meant more for the Sanctuary. Gary was directly to blame and would be dealt with accordingly, whether by Simon's own hand or Lucille's thirsty personality, but Simon? He was no fun to try to get a rise out of now that he was already on his knees with nothing more than resolution on his face, making Negan sigh. All the fun had been taken out of the show he was making Simon participate in when the man admitted his wrongs and accepted his fate.
"All is forgiven," Negan told him, clapping him on the shoulder as he moved past him. "Get your ass up. We're good."
Simon stood up and looked at him in determination and told him, "I won't let you down. Not you."
"I appreciate the hell out of that," came his response before he tapped his bat on the table, Archie pulling out a map and laying it in front of them all. There were little dots already circled on it as he pointed to them and let everyone else know, "This is where we start-the first of our new staging posts. See, we do not have to take the Hilltop. We just have to make sure that the farmers can't leave. We stay nimble. We stay light. We plink their asses every time one of them tries to poke their head out. Sometimes right in front, sometimes from a mile away, but every goddamn time," he sighed, standing by Dwight and measuring the man's reactions. "I am going to take a ten-head team to this spot," he said, pointing to another little circle. "I am stocking it with supplies and ammo that Dr. Smartypants are makin'. Everyone else here is gonna do the same thing, same time, different spot. End of the day tomorrow, we will have cache after cache around that Hilltop and always be spitting distance from a reload. There will be teams 24/7 around that place...snipin' 'em, one by one, day after day, until we have full...attrition."
"It's an ambitious plan," Simon told him. "With testicular heft. But what do we do about the Widow and Ani? The kids? We goin' all out or we takin' them back?"
Negan looked at the man coolly before asking, "You have a problem with my plan, Simon?"
"No, sir. Just don't want to make the mistake of taking out someone you don't want taken out."
"Every time one of them, and I mean any one of them, sticks a toe out of that gate, we take 'em out. We will gain order and put all this mess behind us," Negan told them, finished with what he wanted to say. "Alright, everybody, clear out. Except you, Dwight," he said, firmly pushing the man back down into his chair. "Got a few things we need to kick around."
Dwight was much more fun than Simon when it came to getting under his skin as Negan sat and watched the man squirm. He was trying so hard not to look guilty as he sat there staring at the blonde who did his best not to look straight at him. It was hilarious to see a grown as man acting like his students had when they were in trouble with him or their parents, especially their parents. They always did that when they knew they were in trouble or that they were going to be soon enough for a decision they knew they shouldn't have made. Dwight was now sitting with his entire body faced straight ahead while Negan himself sat with his leg crossed over the other, propping his head up with one hand as he looked back at the other man. He was the epitome of relaxed as he smiled at Dwight, thinking about just what he was going to do with the man. He knew that he would be in for the surprise of his life when he finally showed him Laura was alive. Dwight would definitely be beaten and thrown in a cell, but Negan couldn't decide if he was going to kill him or not. It would be better to make a permanent example out of him and make him work the fence rather than outright kill him. It'd be even better to make him work as a dead man hanging on the fence, but if he did that, he wouldn't suffer as much as Negan wanted him to.
"You are smart as hell," Negan admitted to Dwight in honesty, "you know that? I mean, after everything-Sherry, the sizzle," he said, motioning to his face, "you didn't stew, you didn't do anything stupid. You just went about the business of getting yours. Nothing shook you. You kept your eyes on what could keep you alive and well. You keep on keepin' that shit clear," he told him as he pointed at his head and Dwight turned his head to him as stone faced as ever.
He sat with a smile on his face watching as the blonde just nodded his head in response to his little pep talk. The thing was, it wasn't a pep talk at all; Negan was simply letting Dwight know that his number was up in a roundabout way. All that he could do was smile even wider before he licked his lips and stood up, walking straight out of the room. He was happy to know that Laura was safe and sound, currently sitting pretty in one of the rooms upstairs until he could confront the two that needed an attitude adjustment himself. She'd barely been able to avoid a herd and had only managed to survive by making her way blindly through the forest that night. The only reason she'd been able to escape without getting hurt was because she'd shot Dwight first. In the chaos and commotion that followed as the ambush dwindled to an end, she had ran for the hills as soon as she had an opening. She'd been lucky enough to be able to bunker down in an old safe house that had been abandoned before he happened upon her as he was escaping the shit show of an attack on the Hilltop the first time around. Now that he knew without a doubt that Dwight was a traitor, all he had left to do was to get the plan out to the Hilltop using him. After that, well, the real plan would begin and, even though he'd have to sacrifice a few, every rebel against his rule would be taken out, no matter who it was.
