Chapter 54-Suspicions
Maggie's P.O.V
Maggie put down the radio after checking in with Tara. So far, everything there has been running smoothly since the shooting.
She grimaced, clutching her fists. Dammit, how hard was it to kill the murderous lunatic? Did he have more lives than a cat?
No wait, a cockroach sounded better...especially considering who she was-
"Maggie?"
Without turning around, Maggie sighed, rubbing her brow. "What is it, Beth?"
"You...uh...have a visitor."
"I'm busy, can it-" She started to say, turning...
Her voice died in her throat, and she just stared.
Standing right next to her nervous sister was Laura...her arms crossed, staring back at her.
Beth looked between the two then said, "Maggie-"
"Wait outside."
Hesitating for a moment, Beth sighed and walked out, closing the door gently behind her.
The two females stared at each other.
"...You want to sit down?" Maggie started off, raising a brow.
"I prefer standing." Laura just said "I'm here to just tell you and offer you something."
"...And that would be?" Maggie said neutrally.
"Once he is healed, He'll stays at the camp. You stay at Hilltop, and he'll never enter here ever again. You visit the camp when Negan's on runs cause I know you want your son to know Ofelia and Merle. You'll never cross paths. You stay out of his way and he'll stay out of yours." Laura offered.
"Oh really?" Maggie's eyes darkened. "That way's easy, you think?"
Laura narrowed her own eyes. "Yes, cause it's the way where no one has to fucking die."
"I'm supposed to just grin and bear it that my son has to be raised near him and potentially see the man who murdered his father?" Maggie said sharply.
Laura said flatly. "Cry me a river."
"...Excuse me?" Maggie blinked, unsure if she heard right.
"I lost my father, he lost his wife, Beth also lost her family, Rick lost his wife, Madison lost the man she loved, Daniel lost his daughter, Morgan lost his wife and his son, Sherry lost her sister, Daryl lost his brother, don't just go thinking your pain is more damn special than everyone else's."
Maggie's nostrils flared. "Who the hell-"
"And you want to believe that Negan is a monster for the rest of your life. Personally, I won't blame you. What he did to your husband was monstrous. I'm not stupid, but the point of this alliance is to ensure that the living can be saved. That was the original purpose of the Saviors...till Negan got drunk on power along with that bloodthirsty lunatic Simon whispering in his ear."
Trying to compose herself, Maggie growled, "I know how people like him think."
"Don't fucking dare." Laura warned, "You don't know him. At all. You only known him for a short amount of time. I've known him since practically the start of all this shit years ago. I've seen him at his best, I've seen him at his darkest, if you think you know him well enough to form an opinion, your kidding yourself. You want to talk about your husband and hold it over him, tell me. Who the hell started all this shit then? The attack."
Maggie blinked and stepped forward, justifying, "The attack? The Satellite outpost was necessary. You, Saviors, beat a damn 16-year-old to death and suppressing Hilltop for its resources!"
Laura just stared. "So you just hired yourselves out like mercenaries and decided to kill over 30 people in their sleep? Face it. If someone killed 30 of Hilltop's people in their sleep, you wouldn't stop till they were all dead. If anything, Negan was showing an Immense amount of restraint."
"...Restraint? That was Restraint?! What, you would have handled things differently?" Maggie asked angrily.
"Don't know. I was never in charge." Laura shrugged. "If it was Simon in charge That Night, he would have shot all of you the second you were on your knees and burned Alexandria to the ground. Off-topic...my father once said, "In war, no one is innocent, and no one in that war was innocent. We all did horrible things...I did things that would have made my Father hate me. But I'm trying to be better, for his sake. What you need to do is be better for your son's sake. Otherwise, more people die."
With that, Laura just turned and left the radio room...leaving behind an angry, confused, and conflicted leader.
Sherry's P.O.V
Sherry and Carol rode in silence. "You're probably getting sick of being told thank you, but I'm going to say it anyway. Thank you for what you did for Daryl." Carol says.
Sherry smiles at the older woman amused. "I've heard it a few times," Sherry says. "And you're welcome again." She paused to let Carol chuckle at that "How long have you known Daryl?"
"I've known Daryl since the beginning. He and I were in maybe the first group that I was in. With his brother Merle, Carl, Shane...T-dog," Carol says, a small smile coming onto her face as she thought about the man who saved her.
"Was T-dog your husband?" Sherry asks.
"No," Carol says. "He's the only reason I'm alive, though. He gave his life to save me. He was a good man."
"Sounds like he was a great guy," Sherry says. "First group you said?"
Carol remembered the people they lost, but said "the ones still left are me, Daryl, Shane, Carl, and Rick. He came later, but he's always been one of us, his son talked about him all the time before he showed up. Long story." She said, seeing Sherry's confusion on why apparently Rick came later.
"Noted...So tell me about the Kingdom."
John's P.O.V
"Look out!" John hears, and then he hears a crash and a scream of pain. John was on his feet in a heartbeat. He drew his revolver and ran into the woods, followed by the others.
John stopped when he saw what had caused the scream. Three men layed on the ground and There was a tree on top of them. One had the tree on his right foot, another with it over his right arm, and one wasn't moving. The tree had crushed his back. He sees walkers moving towards them. "June, Siddiq, Enid. Do what you can," John says as he raises his gun and shoots a walker through the head. "Shane, Dorie, Dwight, Amanda, and I will cover you. The rest of you get this tree off of them," John ordered as he climbs over the tree. The other four follow him. John withdraws his other revolver and shoots another walker through the head.
Shane pulls out his machete and cuts a walker's head off. Dwight pulls out an ax and slams it onto the top of a walker's head as Amanda stabs her knife through and eye of a walker.
Dorie stood beside his son with his rifle. He shot a walker through the top of the eye as John shot the last two through the head with his revolver. "Amanda, get every man you have on patrol," John tells the woman, who nods. She motions for Dwight to follow her.
John, Dorie, and Shane go back to the tree. Two of the men were gone, and the one on the left still layed there. "He's dead," Alden says as he looks at them. John nods as he pulls his knife out. He walks up to the body and stabs the man in the head. "He's from Hilltop."
"I know, dammit." John says in frustration. "Get Luciana and go dig him a grave, and send a report to Maggie." Alden nods as he walks away.
"Let's move him," Dorie says as he goes to the man and grabs his legs. John nods curtly as he grabs his arms, and the two begin to move the body.
Maggie's P.O.V
Maggie walked up to the MRAP. She climbed inside and looked at Al. "Everything okay?" Al asks her.
"There was a problem at the camp. Cody's dead. A tree fell on him," Maggie says. Al stops what she is doing and looks at her.
"What?" Al said in shock, and at Maggie's nods closes her eyes "Dammit."
"I told them to bring his body back here instead of burying it there," Maggie says. Al nods as she sits down beside her, closing the door
"If I ask you something, will you tell me the honest truth?" Maggie started, looking at her.
Raising an eyebrow, Althea looked at Maggie confused "Um...sure. Always. What is it?"
"Are Daryl, Rick and some of the others keeping a secret from me about Carl and Negan?" Maggie asks her girlfriend.
"Not that I know of, but I've been out of the loop since they left for the prison, and I moved here." Al says, taken aback. "Why?"
"Daryl had a slip-up, and he brought up Carl in an argument but stopped himself, and...over the last few months I felt that Carl's been holding something back. Can you look into that?" Maggie says.
Althea sighed "Maggie, didn't I tell you before I'm staying out of this? There are no damn 'sides' here we're all on the same side."
Maggie's eyes furrowed "You also said you'd give me support."
"That doesn't mean I want to cause a damn rift with you and your family!" Althea argued back "Look Carl loves you, he flat out threatened me once if I ever hurt you he'd kill me. You know damn well that he'd never do anything to hurt you."
"Wouldn't be the first time a Grimes lied to me." Maggie said in frustration.
Althea looked at the ceiling at this old complaint in exasperation then looked back "fucking. This again? If your this pissed at Rick for this promise that I wasn't here for so again, not getting involved in that, can't you talk to him about it, you know like adults?"
Maggie looked at her agape "What? You think it's partly my fault?"
Althea raised a brow, knowing that Maggie needed to hear this, having been a year and half and her girlfriend was still bitter about it "Isn't it? He's tiptoeing around the issue yes, but your the one just bitterly stewing instead of the two of you talking about it. It takes two to tango remember? I talked to Rick, I know he loves you like the daughter he always wanted, you can be pissed at him all you want for not following you as you wanted, but nothing will change the fact that you and him are family."
Maggie just looked away defiantly Llook we're not talking about this, we're talking about Carl."
Sighing, the former reporter held a hand up in surrender "Fine, I'll look into it. But only cause I know you'll keep pestering me about this. But again, after this, I'm backing off alright?"
"Thank you," Maggie says with a relieved tone, and leans in to kiss her girlfriend's cheek.
But Al just nodded, hoping this wouldn't lead to more problems.
Negan's P.O.V
Negan walks into the trailer and sees Laura lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. "Nick and Troy are on patrol. Troy told me they needed man time," Laura says with a smirk. Negan chuckles as he lays down beside her, both looking at the trailer ceiling
"You seem to be a little out of it today. What's wrong?" Negan asks Laura after a moment.
"I dreamed about Dad and Simon. When we first met him, when Dad died," Laura tells Negan, who frowns at that nodding.
"If I knew what would happen. I would've killed Simon right there. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, I know you always had an 'off' feeling...but the guy saved our asses, I felt like I owed it to him." Negan says.
Laura just nodded, then said softly "I miss him."
"I do too," Negan says. "Franklin would be proud of you."
"He would be proud of you too." Laura reassures him.
"Probably not." Negan scoffs bitterly. "I've done some pretty horrible things."
"Maybe he wouldn't be, but I am." Laura pats his arm with a smile.
Negan smiles as he kisses her head. "I'm going to go rest." Laura nods as Negan walks away.
Morgan's P.O.V
Morgan and Rosita walk back into camp after patrol. June comes out of the medical tent, her hands bloody. "How are they?"
"They'll live, one is missing an arm and another a foot, but at least they are alive," Morgan and Rosita nod as they walk past the blond. They walk into their tent, and Morgan shrugs his jacket off and falls back.
"Tired?" Rosita asks as she lays down beside him.
"Yes, long day." Morgan says as he lays his hand on her back.
"What are you doing tomorrow?" Rosita asks as she lays her head on his chest.
"I'm going to the campgrounds," Morgan says. "Something needs to make sure that nothing has happened and check on the garden, and I'm going to get the extra metal and wood. Kenny and Lilly are making another run to the warehouse as well." Rosita nods.
"I'll come with you. You'll need help with the metal," Rosita says.
Morgan nods as he closes his eyes.
Dwight's P.O.V
Dwight looked up from his bed as Sherry came in. "Hey," Dwight says with an unsure tone. "How was the Kingdom?"
"Good, I think I'll go there. They need more fighters, and I know how to fight," Sherry says.
"Some of the saviors will be there," Dwight warns.
"I don't have a problem with all the saviors, heck I know alot of them were assholes but I remembered some of them were actually pretty sweet." Sherry says as she sits down beside him. "I don't expect you to come."
"You're my wife, I crossed states looking for you, I have to come." Dwight argued with her. Sherry smiles.
"I am, and I might still be your wife in a few days. Or you'll be with Amanda. D, I can see you have feelings for her, and I don't blame you. I left for over a year. I can't make you stay with me, and I can't make you choose her. You gotta do that and no matter what you choose. I'll always be here for you," Sherry says. She squeezes Dwight's hand before she stands up and leaves, leaving Dwight confused and conflicted.
Thanks for reading. I think there will be two more chapters to this part before we enter the main part of the bridge saga that we all know. You will see Dwight's decision before the time skip. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.