Surviving the Dead
Samantha POV...
I woke up to the sun shining through the window of my trailer, I rubbed my eyes and noticed that Jesus was still next to me still asleep, I smiled then slowly got up being careful not to wake him and I walked over to my counter grabbing the bottle of water I had in there taking a drink. Just then I feel arms around my waist and I jumped because it startled me.
I hear Jesus chuckle then I face him, "Someone's jumpy"
"Well someone sneaks around like a ninja so it makes it hard for people to hear him" I said with a smile and he kissed me
"Sorry. So...how are you?"
"Hanging in there, I keep thinking about Daryl, after...after Negan killed Abraham he held the bat in front of Rosita telling her to look, I told him to leave her alone and he said maybe I should join him then Daryl got up trying to attack him. I don't know what their gonna do to him I just..." I said with tears
"Hey, hey shh" Jesus tells me pulling me into a hug, "Don't do this to yourself it'll make you go crazy. Everything is gonna be okay, I meant what I said last night when the time is right we will get him."
I looked at him and he wiped my tears away, "Thank you, for being here."
"No where else I'd rather be." He tells me and kissed my head, "Are you gonna check on Maggie?"
"Yeah, and um...maybe we keep quiet about us, not that I'm not happy about it because I am but...she just lost Glenn, Sasha just lost Abraham, I'd feel like I was rubbing happiness in their face.
"Samantha, it's ok I understand" He says and I kissed him on the cheek
"I better get changed and head over."
"I'll talk to you later" He says and walked out
I walked into the medical trailer and see Maggie laying on the bed with Dr. Carson standing by the monitor, Maggie looked like she was asleep so I quietly closed the door.
"How is she?" I asked him and he turned to face me
"She's still asleep has been for a while."
"What happened?" I asked but suddenly I see Maggie slowly wake up and I moved over to her
"Welcome back. Do you remember me?" Dr. Carson asked her, "I'm Dr. Carson. You're at Hilltop Colony. You've been asleep for a while. You suffered from the condition abruptio placentae. It's a separation of the placenta from uterus. It's unusual this early, but, uh...could be caused by trauma. Possibly the bruises on your abdomen" He tells her and I put my hand on her shoulder rubbing it and she looked at me then back at him
"Did I-I..." She exhales sharply, "...lose...?"
"No. Separation was small. Baby's heart rate is normal. Here, listen." He says clicking a button then putting the ultrasound wand on her belly and we hear the baby's heart beat, "There it is. Now, you need to take it easy for a few days. You don't want to exacerbate the separation any more. And I really think you need to stay here for the duration of your pregnancy. If anything else happens, I can take care of it. You have any questions?" He asked her and she starts to sit up
"Whoa, whoa Maggie easy. Easy, easy, easy, easy." I tell her and she looks at him
"Can you say that again?"
"What?" He asked her
"Everything you just said."
We open the door to the trailer and I help Maggie out seeing Sasha sitting there eating an apple, "You, uh - You okay?" She asked Maggie
"Where is he? Where are they both?" Maggie asked and Sasha leads us over to the two grave sites
"It was in Glenn's pocket." Sasha tells her handing Maggie Hershel's pocket watch that he gave to Glenn, "All Abraham had was a cigar." She says and I chuckle a little Maggie kisses the watch and puts it on Glenn's grave and takes a sharp breath and I crouch down next to her
"Maggie?" I asked her and she sniffles then nods her head telling me she's okay
"It feels like everything is wrong." Sasha says and I grab her hand giving it a squeeze
"Not everything." Maggie tells her
"He told me that you're gonna be all right. He said you'll just have to take it easy for the next few days."
"He told me that we have to stay. That we, um... He says it's better if he's close, just in case, till the baby's born." Maggie mentioned
"Then we'll stay." Sasha tells her
"I'm still thinking about it."
"You're staying. And so am I." Sasha says and I pull Maggie into a side hug
"Me too." I tell her
"It's nice to see you up." I hear Jesus say as he walks over and puts flowers on Abraham's grave then Glenn's and I catch his eye and give him a small smile
"Flowers. It was you." Maggie tells him
"Ones on your bed, too." Sasha points out
"I read somewhere that blue flowers inspire strength and calming." He tells Maggie as she stands up
"What's green?" She asked him
"Release." She sniffles and he puts his hand on her shoulder rubbing it
"Thank God you're finally awake." I hear Gregory say walking over to us, "You people said you got them all."
"We thought we did. It was just an outpost." Maggie tells him as her and Sasha walk over
"H-How many of them were there?"
"There were a lot. Maybe hundreds."
"Do they know the deal you made us take, Marsha?" Gregory asked her and I walked over
"It's Maggie." Jesus corrected
"No. And we didn't make you take the deal, Gregory."
"I-I-I'm happy we could patch you up. You need to go. Make sure you let Rich know what we did for you." He tells her and I shifted, Jesus must have noticed because he put his hand on my back, I looked at him then back at Gregory
"Dr. Carson said I should stay."
"If he thinks he has the authority to make that decision, he's mistaken." He said and looked at both me and Sasha, "Don't look at me like that. She'll be safer with her own people. And we'll be safer without her. You need to keep your distance from Maggie and stay focused on your work here at Hilltop." Gregory says to me and looks at the graves, "Did you do this? We don't bury our dead. We burn them."
"I did it. I don't live here." Sasha tells him
"Gregory, this is Sasha. She got Maggie here. They're both from Alexandria." Jesus tells him
"I can't - I-I don't have time to keep track of everybody. I've been recuperating, too, Jesus - from a stab wound." Gregory says and I roll my eyes, "You know? Maggie said that her people could take care of the Saviors. S-So far, all they've done is put our community at risk. You know, if they see you here, they'll think we colluded."
"We did." Sasha tells him
"I did not agree to this. If they think we helped attack their outpost, they'll do that to us. Jesus, do you have any idea what plausible deniability means?" Gregory asked him
"Yes."
"Well, then you know it's our way out. If they leave, we have plausible deniability." He mentioned
"Gregory, it'll be night soon. It's not safe for them to leave now." I tell him and he scoffed
"Look, I'm a good guy. You can stay the night. But leave in the morning."
"We'll talk more about it tonight." Jesus tells him
"No, I made my decision."
"I'm just saying that maybe-" Jesus started to say
"Do you want to go back with them?" Gregory asked him
"I'll take them back."
"I meant-" Gregory started to say
"I know what you meant." Jesus said cutting him off
"So it's settled."
"No, it's not. Maggie is pregnant." I said to Gregory
"Well... that's her mistake." He said and I went to move forward clenching my fist but Jesus stopped me and Gregory walked away
"Come in." I hear Jesus say after I knocked on the door to his trailer that he was letting Maggie and Sasha stay in, I opened the door then me and Maggie walked in, "I made the bed for you and laid out some clothes. They're mine, so they're more utility than comfort." He tells Maggie and I give him a smile
"It's okay. We won't be here much longer." Maggie tells him
"I'm sorry, about all of it. I'm...gonna see what I can do."
"Mm. Why do you burn your dead?" She asked
"Um... The idea was just to keep going." I answered
"What do you have to remember 'em by?"
"Us. I'll see you in the morning." Jesus replied and I saw him glance at me before he walked out
"Now what?" Maggie asked sitting down
"Maybe we stay. What can Gregory do?" Sasha asks
"He's in charge." Maggie said
"He's an idiot. He's a coward. They're more dangerous." I tell them
" We have the night. Let's think on it. Things will be clearer in the mornin'." Maggie says and I grab her hand.
"No matter what it takes, I'll make sure you stay here," I tell her and grabbed Sasha's hand, "Both of you." They both smile at me and I stand up, "Well you get some rest, I'll come see you in the morning, let me know if you need anything, I'm not to far away." I tell Maggie and I walked out seeing Jesus head to the house, "Hey" I called after him and he looked at me, "Thank you, for giving them your place for the night."
"It's not a problem, she needs the rest." He said and I walked up to him taking the hamper he had in his hands and set it down but before I could do anything he pulled me to him kissing me deeply, I wrapped my arms around his neck and moved my lips along his, it felt so wonderful.
"Keep kissing me like that and I'll have to take you to my place" I said with a smile and he chuckled
"Don't tempt me." He says and gives me a light peck, "Good night beautiful"
"Good night" I tell him and headed to my trailer and glanced back at him as he watched me.
I was laying in my bed staring at the ceiling lost in thought when suddenly I hear loud music coming from outside, I look out the window and see there's fire and that the gates are open, "Oh shit!" I grabbed my knife and went to run out but my door was jammed, "Damn it" I grunted and climbed the table to the window in my ceiling climbing out of it and I saw Sasha on top of theirs as walkers start coming through, "We need to turn that off" I tell her, we get down and run over to the car.
"Jesus! Sasha and Sam are alone down there! They need help!" We hear Maggie yell and I turn seeing her on the roof of the trailer
"Damn it, Maggie." I said and stabbed a walker
"You two! Get those gates closed!" She yells at two people on the balcony at the house
"On it!"
We go over to the car only to see it's welded shut, "Oh, man, come on." Sasha groaned trying to pull it open, I feel something touch my shoulder and I whip around raising my knife only to see Jesus standing there stopping my arm
"Hi."
"Sorry." I tell him and he smiles
"It's okay. We need to close the gates."
"Yeah." I tell him and he stabs a walker then we hear a motor rev, we turn around and see Maggie driving a tractor, I moved to run over to her but Jesus grabbed my hand and I looked at him
"She's got it. I need your help here." He tells me, then me, him and Sasha continue killing walkers as Maggie gets closer then drives over the car crushing it and the music stops, I look at Sasha as she runs over to Maggie, "You okay?" Jesus asked me and I nodded
"It was them"
"I don't care what they did. The answer is no." Gregory tells me and Jesus as we stand in his study
"I'm not turning away a pregnant woman who helped us. I'm not turning away Sasha, either."
"Who the hell is Sasha?" Gregory asked
"They're staying." I tell him
"You're not in charge, neither are you Jesus. I am. I'm the one who has to look after the safety of this place. What, are you telling you want to call the plays, after all this time, after I set the table here? Say the word. The broken gate, the Saviors, the people-all of this can be yours. Only you'd have to stick around for more than five minutes. You'd actually have to be a part of this place."
"Gregory?" Sasha asked as her and Maggie walked in
"Ah, I-I was just telling Ms. Caitlin to bring up some of her famous rhubarb preserves for you both. It's our way of saying thank you for helping out last night."
"It's Ms. Maitlin." I corrected
"You can take them with you when you go. And you should go now, because the Saviors could get back any minute."
"I'll go." Sasha tells him
"Sasha..." Maggie starts
"But let her stay. We'll call it even on last night." Sasha finished
"No deal. But it's been lovely having you here." He tells her and I clench my fist
"Just tell me how we can make this work." Sasha pleaded
"I think we'd need to... meet on that one-on-one just to explore-"
"Go to hell." I said through my teeth at him
"Are you actually imply-No. You know what? I'm sorry. I'm gonna tell Ms. Caitlin to keep her preserves." Gregory says and we hear a truck approach, we move to the window to see the Saviors pull in, "You know what they'll do if they find you here? Jesus, get them in the closet."
"Gregory-" Maggie starts to say
"Go get in there now. And you don't move, you don't speak, and maybe you'll get out of this alive." Gregory tells him and I grab Maggie's hand bringing her to the closet and we got in, I knew they probably wouldn't remember me but rather safe then sorry, I hear multiple footsteps walk in and I grip my knife.
"I told you to hide them in the hallway closet!" Gregory tells Jesus as we walked out
"No, you said closet."
"This is my bedroom. What if they came in here before I-" Gregory started to say but Maggie cut him off
"Before you tried to give us up? They would've killed you first."
"Honey, I'm talking to Jesus." He tells her and I clench my jaw
"Stop." Jesus tells him
"Why are you even defending her? We're here right now because she and - and Rich didn't handle things like they said they would."
"The Saviors tried to kill you." Jesus adds
"That was a misunderstanding. And as soon as the Saviors leave, we get them the hell out of here before something bad really happens."
"Stop! They're staying. Or do you want to make it public? You want to make the deal with Alexandria public? Lose your plausible deniability? Lose your position?" I asked him walking over and standing next to Jesus
"So you're gonna be in charge now?" Gregory asked me
"No. It's just that you won't be. Maggie and Sasha are staying. I'm staying."
"We're all gonna be one big happy dysfunctional family." Jesus added
"So we will be. And I'll see us through this. I made progress with them today. You saw it." Gregory tells us
"That's not what I saw." Jesus mentioned
"Yeah? Well, it's what happened." Gregory said and walked around me over to Maggie and Sasha, "We play nice, they play nice. See, dear? Saviors can actually be quite reasonable." He tells Maggie and she punched him then I see her reach down and grab Hershel's watch
"You son of a bitch" I tell him clenching my fist
"It's a fine watch. Doesn't need to be left out in the rain."
"This is our home now. So you'll learn to start to call me by my name. Not Marsha, not "dear," not "honey." Maggie. Maggie Rhee."
"When I got here, Gregory was already in charge. Thought the people chose him for a reason. Looking at it now, I think it just happened. I didn't like how he did things. But I couldn't imagine anyone else in his place. I can now." Jesus told us
"Who?" Maggie asked and I looked at her then Jesus
"We'll talk about it sometime. I should've talked to Gregory sooner. I'm sorry. Hopefully, you'll let me make it up to you.
"We will." She tells him and looked back out the window
"The gates are closed."
"Wait, they're still loading up outside." I tell her
"I'll see you back at the trailer." She tells Sasha and leaves
"If you want to make it up to us...can you find where Negan lives?" Sasha asked him
"One of the trucks is going back there, so...yeah, I can do that."
"And get Daryl?" I asked and he put his hand on my shoulder
"Can you keep it between us, just you, me and Sam?" Sasha asked
"No Maggie?" He asked ehr and she shook her head, "I don't like that."
"Me neither, but she doesn't need this right now." I said
"Enid." Sasha said as we walked into their trailer and I saw the girl sitting next to Maggie at the table
"Hi. I - I came to help."
"You came by yourself?" I asked her
"Yeah. Have some dinner."
"Why are there balloons on Abraham's grave?" Sasha asked as we sat down
"I didn't have the heart to tell you. Glenn would've. He was a bad liar." Maggie says
"Sorry." Enid told Sasha
"There's no need to be sorry. Nothing wrong with balloons."
"There's nothing marking the graves."
"Nope," Maggie pulls out the watch, "I was gonna use this for Glenn's. It was my dad's. He gave it to him. But I'm giving it to you. We don't need anything to remember him by. We have us." Maggie tells us and I grab her hand then Sasha's, both Maggie and Sasha grabbed Enid's, "For this new morning, with its light, for rest and shelter of the night, for health and food, for love and friends, for everything that goodness sends." Maggie said in prayer
"Amen." Her, Enid and Sasha said
"Amen" I add and Maggie squeezes my hand
"Please be safe" I tell Jesus as he gets ready to leave and he walks over to me
"I will be, I have someone to come back to"
"Oh yeah, who's that?" I asked with a smile and he kissed me
"An amazing girl right here in front of me," He tells me and I kiss him wrapping my arms around his neck and the kiss grew more passionate, "I love you" He said and I looked at him in shock
"You..."
"Love you, with everything I am." He says and puts my hand on his chest, "You brought this back to life, and it's yours" He said and a tear falls down my cheek but he wipes it
"I love you too, and you have my heart as well. Come back to me, and bring me my brother"
"I'd do anything for you" He says and I kiss him again almost not wanting to let him go but he looked at me one more time and left.