Surviving the Dead
Daryl POV...
As we drove back to Alexandria I looked over and saw my sister asleep resting her head on my shoulder, I gave a small smile then looked up at Jesus who I saw give a quick glance at her. I still didn't trust this guy but Sammie said he said he saved her and I'll admit, I was grateful.
"Thank you" I grumbled to him and he looked at me
"For what?"
"Savin' her, keeping her safe at the Hilltop." I tell and he nodded his head
"Of course, she's strong, must be in her blood."
I let out a small quiet chuckle and looked back at Sammie, "Yeah, she is," After about 10 minutes we finally reached our gates and I nudged her awake, "We're here sleepy head" I tell and she turned and looked out the window. I knew she was nervous about seeing the others, after everything that had happened they all thought she was dead but never said it out loud because I had a strong feeling she was alive, and here she is.
Samantha POV...
We pulled into Alexandria and I looked out the window, this place...I couldn't even describe it, it was amazing.
"Get Olivia. She should inventory what we have. We'll meet her at the pantry." I hear Rick say out the window to someone
"You have food?" I heard Sasha asked and my heart ached, I couldn't imagine the grief she was going through, I only know how it would feel if I actually lost Daryl.
"I need everybody in the church in an hour." Rick tells her
"What is it?"
"We'll talk about it." He says and starts the engine again
"Rick, what's going on?" I hear another voice ask, oh Carol
"We're gonna have to fight." He answered and drove away heading to the pantry and we got out unloading everything. Then Daryl brought me and Jesus to the house he was staying in and we walked inside
"Wow, swanky" I tell him and he scoffed, just then I hear footsteps come down the stairs and I see a boy who I hadn't seen since the prison, he certainly wasn't a kid anymore and then I noticed the white bandage around his eye
"Daryl where's my..." He stopped when he saw me
"Sam?"
"Hey buddy" I said and he ran over and hugged me, I always thought of Carl as a little brother and it makes me so happy to see him again, "What happened to your eye?"
"I got shot, Denise saved me."
"Kid how many times are you gonna get shot?" I asked him with a smile and he smiled too then a girl walked down the stairs holding a little girl and I just about dropped, "Judith?" I asked and the girl handed her to me, "Oh my...you've gotten so big" I tell her and Carl smiled at us, I looked at Jesus and he was smiling as well, "You really are a little ass kicker ain't ya?" I referred to her by the name Daryl gave her when she was a baby
"Hey Rick says he's..." I heard from the door and I turned around seeing Carol and Sasha standing there.
"Sam? How are you..."
"Hi Carol" I tell her cutting her off and handing Judith to Carl, I walked over to her and she pulled me into a hug, I hugged back and then gave Sasha one, "I'm so sorry Sasha" i whispered in her ear and she nodded then we broke apart.
"How are you here?" Carol asked me and I chuckled
"Long story."
"Well umm Rick's ready for us in the church" Sasha says and we start to head out
"How do feel?" Daryl asked me
"Better now" I said and we walked to the church
"And we can work with the Hilltop. Maggie hammered out a deal. We're getting food- eggs, butter, fresh vegetables. But they're not just giving it away." Rick tells the people who came to the church, people who I didn't know, and people I did know, I was standing up front next to Jesus who was sitting down. Rick thought it would help in case anyone had questions, "These Saviors, they almost killed Sasha, Daryl, and Abraham on the road." He tells them and I looked at Daryl, "Now, sooner or later, they would've found us, just like those Wolves did, just like Jesus did. They woulda killed someone or some of us. And then they would try to own us. And we would try to stop them. But by then, in that kind of fight, low on food, we could lose. This is the only way to be sure, as sure as we can get, that we win. And we have to win. We do this for the Hilltop, it's how we keep this place. It's how we feed this place. This needs to be a group decision. If anybody objects, here's your chance to say your piece." He finished and everyone stayed quiet until a man in the back stood up, Daryl told me his name was Morgan, the man Rick knew after he woke up in the hospital.
"You're sure we can do it? We can beat them?" Morgan asked him
"What this group has done, what we've learned, what we've become, all of us- yes, I'm sure."
"Then all we have to do is just tell them that." Morgan says and I looked at him confused
"Well, they don't compromise." Rick says
"This isn't a compromise. It's a choice you give them. It's a way out, for them and for us."
"We try and talk to the Saviors, we give up our advantage, our safety." I tell Morgan and he looks at me, "We have to come for them before they come for us. We can't leave them alive."
"Where there's life, there's possibility." Morgan says to me
"Of them hitting us." Rick adds
"We're not trapped in this. None of you are trapped in this."
"Morgan...they always come back." Rick tells him
"Come back when they're dead, too."
"Yeah, we'll stop them. We have before." Rick mentioned
"I'm not talking about the walkers."
"Morgan wants to talk to them first. I think that would be a mistake, but it's not up to me. I'll talk to the people still at home. I'll discuss it with the people on guard now, too, but who else wants to approach the Saviors, talk to them first?" Rick asked everyone else and another guy stands up
"What happened here, we won't let that happen again. I won't."
"Looks like it's settled. We know exactly what this is. We don't shy from it, we live. We kill them all. We don't all have to kill. But if people are gonna stay here... they do have to accept it." Rick tells them and leaves
"That was interesting" Jesus said to me and I sighed
"Yeah"
That night I was sitting in the living room on a couch while Jesus slept on the other one across the room, I still couldn't believe everything that has happened today. I got reunited with my brother, the rest of my family, but now what was I gonna do? I became a member of the Hilltop and I've gotten close to the people there, especially Jesus, the man that saved me and who I was having strong feelings for. Then there's this place, where my brother is, I was separated from him for so long and now here he was. I was torn, I wanted to be in both places but I knew I was going to have to pick one. I got brought out of my thoughts when Daryl sat down in front of me on the couch.
"You alright?" He asked and I gave a small nod
"I am, but I'm not. Does that make sense?" I asked giving a small chuckle
"It does, whats going on?"
"Worried about tomorrow, and after that happens where does that leave me?" I asked him
"What do you mean?" He asked me
"Do I stay here with you and the others or do I go back to the Hilltop?"
"I see" He says and looks down
"Daryl, your my brother and I love you. I missed all of you like crazy and I'm so happy we found each other. I just..." I stopped and looked over at Jesus then back at my brother, "I need to figure out what I want."
He looks at me and lightly nodded his head, "I get it, I do. I'll always be there for you no matter what."
"I love you big brother" I tell him and he pulled me into a hug
"I love you too sis. Get some rest, it's gonna be a long day tomorrow"
"Night" I said and he grumbled then headed upstairs
"Describe it." Rick tells Andy who is drawing the layout of the building for us
"Rectangular building, big satellites on it."
"Any windows?" Rick asked him
"I don't remember any. I think they made it so there's only one way in."
"Guards outside?" I asked him
"Yeah, two of them, at least."
"And you don't know how many people they have?" Michonne asked
"No. Uh, I mean, no. I saw a place where they stored food. It wasn't that big, so..."
"You've been inside?" Rick asks
"Yeah. They had us load in supplies one time."
"Hmm. What do you remember?" Glenn asked putting another piece of paper on the table in front of Andy.
"And you didn't see any other rooms?" Maggie asked him
"No, it's a big place. This is the hallway I saw. There is more."
"And every time, they had you bring things into here?" I ask pointing to the pantry part of the paper
"Jesus. We brought a couple spears for them. Two of the Saviors took them down this hallway. Now, they must've done something with them because they didn't come back with them."
"Maybe a weapons locker, an armory." Jesus points out
"Okay. We get in there, secure the armory, that's how we end it." Glenn mentioned
"That's how Carol ended it here." Maggie adds
"But we don't know if they have an armory or where it even is." Andy points out
"Well, we've got a lot of good guesses. We've done more with less." Daryl tells him
"We go in at night while they're sleeping." Rick tells us
"The guards won't be sleeping. Like I said, I think there's only one way in and there's no way to bust through that door without waking up the rest of them." Andy says to him
"We don't need to. They're going to open it for us, let us walk right in. They want Gregory's head, right? We're gonna give it to them."
"Aaron, Rosita. You start here. We'll peel off every quarter mile, meet back here in a couple of hours." I looked at Jesus and we made our way into the woods to find a walker that would resemble Gregory, personally I would much rather kill Gregory and use his actual head but that would start something.
"So...crazy couple of days huh?" Jesus asked me and I looked at him with a smile
"You could say that."
"Listen Samantha," He says and I look at him as we stop, "You've become a valuable member of the Hilltop, and I know you found your family now. I guess what I'm trying to say is wherever you choose to go after this I'll always be there for you."
"How did you.."
"I over heard you and Daryl last night talking." He mentioned and I nodded my head
"Thank you Jesus, I'm really not sure where.." I started to say but we heard growling behind us and turned around seeing 3 walkers come near us, "The one on the left, it's close enough." I tell him and he killed the one by him and I killed the one by me, as I was about to stab the one we picked another one showed up behind me, I was to slow to kill it and it grabbed my arm but before it could bite me Jesus came up behind it stabbing it and it fell, "Thanks"
"No problem" He says and walked past me, I went to follow him but I forgot there was a walker by my feet and I tripped over it taking Jesus down with me and I landed on him. I looked up and noticed our faces were close to each other again. Not gonna lie my heart was racing right now and I wanted to kiss him so badly right now but it's not the time, I don't know if it will ever be.
I muttered a sorry and got up offering him my hand then helped him up, I walked over to the walker we wanted to use, grabbed my machete then cut its head off and we headed back to the road then I started working on the three heads to make them look as close to Gregory as possible with Jesus and Andy standing next to me.
"She's done with the hair?" I hear Rick ask as he walks over to us, "What've we got?"
"That one." Jesus tells him pointing to the one we found
"Yeah, that's it."
"All right." Rick says
"Though, it's probably good we're doing this at night." Jesus points out and I smiled a little
"Something wrong with it?" Rick asked him bending down to the heads
"The nose. Gregory's is a different shape."
Rick picks up the head and started punching the nose, "He fought back. He broke your hand, right?" He asked Andy
"Guess there's no reason to be subtle about it." Jesus tells him and Rick looked at Andy
"What?" Rick asked
"The Saviors, they're scary, but those pricks got nothing on you." Andy tells him and walks away
"He's not wrong" I point out and Rick looked at me
"Shut up" He joked and walked away as I chuckled then started to follow but Jesus stopped me
"Are you gonna be okay doing this?"
"Um..yeah, we've all got jobs to do." I tell him then I feel and ache in my heart at the words Hershel used to say to us
"Just um...be safe"
"I will, no need to worry" I said and walked over to Daryl
Jesus POV...
I sat in the car looking at the compound with Gabriel, Andy, Craig, and Tara after Andy and Craig arrived, I was looking at the building lost in thought when Tara spoke.
"You still a priest?" She asked Gabriel
"Rick and Carl taught me about guns, other weapons. How to contribute. I'm still a priest."
"I lied to my girlfriend this morning." She says to him and I look at her, "I, um- she caught me thinking about something, so I told her that I loved her. For the first time. That's how I told her, covering something up."
"What were you covering?" He asked her
"That I'd done something like this before. That I didn't like it."
"Do you?" I asked her
"Do you love her?" He asked as well
"Yeah."
"So, you know what you're fighting for." I tell her and looked back at the compound thinking about Samantha, she was what I was fighting for. After I met her and saved her bringing her back to the Hilltop, I got to know her, she was amazing in so many ways. She's beautiful, smart, strong and kind hearted, she woke up something in me that I haven't felt for long time, I loved her and I can't bring myself to tell her and in this world you should tell people how you feel because you don't know if you'll get a tomorrow. I've had a couple of opportunities to kiss her when she would trip and I'd catch her but it took everything in me not to.
After a while we hear the alarm go off at the compound and get out of the car, "We need to go. Get them back to the Hilltop." Tara says
"What? Your people could be in trouble." I said to her
"If you get them back, the deal's still on, right? Right?"
"If they get themselves back. Andy, drive him back to the Hilltop." I tell him and they get in the car and leave and I take my coat and hat off pulling the cloth over my mouth, I had to get in there and help them, help her.
"Look, if they see you and we don't make it-" Tara started to say
"We're gonna make it. And they're not gonna see me." I said to her and ran
Samantha POV...
I was moving though the compound with Rick, Michonne and Daryl while the alarm went off and we were shooting at the Saviours at the top of the stairs then we ran down the hall.
Rick ducked behind a wall as someone shot at him then when there was a free moment Daryl went out firing his gun ducking behind a wall then I followed with Michonne following me then Rick and we made our way down the hall after shooting the guy who was firing at us.
After everyone one was dead we met up by a door and I saw Jesus walking over with Glenn and Heath, I gave him a small smile then Rick lifted up the door leading out to a fenced yard that had a few cars in it and we made our way out.
I walked over to Daryl as we cleared the yard and put my hand on his shoulder, "You okay?" I asked him and he looked at me
"I'm good, you?"
"Dandy as candy, just like the old days huh?" I asked him and nudged his shoulder, he gave a small smile then wrapped his arm around my shoulder. Just then we hear an engine roar and turn to see a man drive out on a motorcycle
"Son of a bitch!" Daryl yells and runs after him, I aimed my gun and shot the guy making him fall off the bike and Daryl lands on him then punched him, "Where'd you get the bike?" He asked as Rick pointed his gun at the guy.
"Just do it! Like you did everyone else, right?"
"Lower your gun, prick." We hear a lady say over the walkie, "You, with the Colt Python. All of you, lower your weapons right now."
"Come on out. Let's talk." Rick responded picking up the walkie
"We're not coming out, but we will talk," She says and there's a pause, "We've got a Carol and a Maggie. I'm thinking that's something you want to chat about." She tells us and I gripped my gun then look at Glenn.
"You can see we have one of yours. We'll trade." Rick tells her
"I'm listening."
"First I want to talk to Maggie and Carol, make sure they're all right.
"Rick, it's Carol. I'm- I'm fine, but-" She tarted to said but was cut off, "Rick, it's Maggie. We're both okay. We'll figure thi-You have your proof. Let's talk.
"This is the deal right here. Let 'em go, you can have your guy back and live."
"Two for one, that's not much of a trade." The woman said to him
"You don't have another choice or you would've done something about it already." Rick says and there's a pause, "Look, I know you're talking it over. It's a fair trade. Just come out, we do this, we all walk away. Do we have a deal?"
"I'll get back to you."
"Now what?" I asked him
"Now, you go back to the Hilltop with Jesus and make sure our deal still sticks with Gregory."
"Rick..." I started to say but Daryl cuts me off
"Sammie, we need you there, you're our best shot at keeping that prick on his toes."
I looked at him then at Jesus then back at Daryl, "Ok, but bring them back safely." I tell him and he nods then gives me a hug, "I'll come visit in a couple days. Take care of yourself."
"You too." He tells me and I see him give a small nod to Jesus and we left.
"You ok?" Jesus asked me from the drivers seat
"I gotta be" I tell him and look out the window, I did, I had to be okay. I will go back to them, when the time is right.