Chapter 55-Doubt
Negan's P.O.V
As Negan sat outside his trailer on the steps, it was early in the morning. He had woken up early and sneaked out and sat on the steps. His mace laid on his leg, just thinking hard. "Most people up at this hour either have something bothering them or are planning something." Negan looks up at Madison, who stood in front of him. "Can I sit?" Negan nods absently, and Madison sits down beside him. "So which one is it?"
"A little of both." Negan says. "You know I've thought about leaving a lot over the last year. Sneaking out during the night, running during a run. I thought about getting as far away from Virginia as possible, away from the people who want to kill me."
"What stopped you?" Madison asks Negan, who sighs.
"Your fiancee, Carl, Laura, Alica, Merle, Ofelia," Negan answers. "People seem to think I am an emotionless monster, but I'm not. I care about people," Negan stared ahead of Madison.
"What's bothering you?" Madison asks after a moment. Her voice was quiet and soft.
"Maggie." Negan answers after a moment of silence. "I hated the fact that we had to move here. Now I'm trapped here. She goes to sleep knowing the man who killed her husband is living less than a minute's walk away."
"Are you scared of her?" Madison asks Negan, who shakes his head with a bitter scoff.
"No," He says. "I told Sherry, my clock is ticking closer and closer to zero. That was true. I know she'll kill me one day, if not her, someone who wants to. I won't die to a walker. I'll die to a bullet," Negan says in a calm voice.
"I worked with the man who killed Travis," Madison says after a moment. "I may not have liked him, but I worked with him. There are not many people left, and I would say these communities are some of the safest places in the country. But they don't work without people. We need you, and we need Maggie."
Negan looked at her "You seriously think that?"
Madison said "Daryl told me once that Rick said 'it's Us or the Dead' we can't be fighting among ourselves. Maggie doesn't have to forgive you, but she does need to know that it's better to work together then driving ourselves apart."
Negan nodded as Madison stood. She pats his shoulder before she walks away.
Morgan's P.O.V
Morgan and Rosita drove down the road in a truck. They had left the lumber camp early. Rosita looked at Morgan and frowned. "Where's your ring?" She asks as she looks at her hand. Morgan glances at her and reaches into his shirt. He pulls a necklace with his ring.
"Tammy had one that she didn't mind giving to me," Morgan says. "Just in case I ever need to put a new ring on my hand."
Rosita smiles as she grabs his hand.
Morgan's radio goes off. "Hello, please, is anybody there," They hear a woman says frantically into the radio. Morgan lets go of Rosita's hand frantically and stops the car as he grabs the radio.
"We're here." Morgan says quickly. "What's wrong?"
"I'm surrounded by the dead," She says. "I'm in a farmhouse. There is a tractor outside, and I saw a sign for some refugee places. Please.."
"The farm Alden took the group to." Rosita says. "Where you got the plow."
Morgan nods. "We know where you are. Stay tight and stay quiet."
"Please, hurry," She says as her voice breaks.
Morgan starts to drive again as his radio goes off again. "Radio, Daryl, tell him what's going on," Morgan orders Rosita, who nods as he grabs her radio.
"Daryl," Rosita says.
"It's Alicia. Daryl is getting food," Alicia responds "Is something wrong?"
"Tell him we may not be able to get to the Camp. A woman in trouble at the farm Daryl got the plow," Rosita tells Alicia.
"I'll tell him, good luck." Alicia says as Rosita sets the radio down.
Nick's P.O.V
Nick hit a walker to the ground and stabs his stick into the walker's head. He looks at Charlie, who is standing beside him. Nick had moved to the lumber camp temporarily to help with the bridge while Negan was healing. Charlie was there with Daniel. "You're pretty good with that," Charlie says.
"I would hope so. I've been training with it for a year," Nick couldn't help but boast a little, Charlie rolling her eyes, as they start to walk again. "I've noticed you've been hanging out with Rachel a lot."
"She's not bad company, and she hasn't tried to get information from me," Charlie says. "I don't trust her."
"You shouldn't." Nick says firmly. He sets his stick down and bends down to Charlie's height. "All Oceanside wants is to see the Saviors dead. They'll do anything to make sure that happens. I wouldn't be surprised if Rachel is a spy for them."
"She might be, but if she is, so am I. I can get information on them. You know I'm good at that," Charlie says with a smile.
"Yes, you are," Nick says. "Just be careful, Charlie," Charlie nods as they continue to walk.
Morgan's P.O.V
The truck stops, kicking up dirt as it stops. Morgan grabs his stick and pushes the door open. The door to the house was open and the room inside full of dirt. Morgan stabs his stick through the first approaching walker's head as Rosita stabs one from the other side of the car. Morgan hits another walker on the head. Rosita comes over, and the two start to kill the walkers, around 40 surrounding the farmhouse. It took them five minutes to clear the walkers. Morgan breathes heavily and looks at Rosita, who was covered in blood. Morgan walks into the house. "Hello," Morgan calls out as they begin to look around. Rosita opens a closet and sighs in resignation "Damn it."
"Morgan." Rosita then called out. Morgan looks at her and walks over to the closet. The woman sat on the ground. A gun lay on her lap, and there was a bullet hole on the side of her head. "Morgan."
Morgan throws his stick down and walks outside. He walks towards the truck and grabs a shovel out of the bed. He walks to the side of the house and begins to dig.
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl opened his door and looked at Madison after the first few knocks. "What's up?"
"Can we talk?" Madison asks. Daryl nods as he lets her in. Alicia layed on the bed with the babies. Madison smiles and walks over to the bed. She picks Ofelia up. "I think you need to speak with Negan."
"Why?" Daryl asks, Alicia looking up at this, eyes worried.
"This morning, he told me he's thought about leaving, he's thinking about leaving, he also feels guilty about being here." Madison explains.
Daryl just stared at Madison, face expressionless at that.
"Maggie has more than enough reasons to hate Negan. But so do you. I don't know if you'll ever forgive him and I wouldn't blame you, but he needs to know he belongs here, with us. There's nobody better than you to tell him. Regardless of what you say, you do care about him in some way. He is one of your people."
Madison stared at Daryl who just kept staring, face betraying nothing, at her.
Then he looked to the side, letting out a puff of breath.
"You'll stay in here with them?" Daryl asks Madison, who nods as he leaves the room.
Negan's P.O.V
Negan and Carl were sitting against the wall. Carl was reading comics. "Is this what you read with your time?" Negan asks Carl with a smile.
"I either work with Earl, hang out with Enid, or read these." Carl says.
"You know I often forget how old you are." Negan teased.
"Still old enough to shoot you if you keep making fun of Superman." Carl responded, not looking up.
Negan just chuckled "Atta boy."
But he stopped as Daryl walked over to them, causing Carl to look up as well.
"Can you give us a minute?" Daryl says to Carl, who nods after a moment, glancing between the two, as he stands up and walks away.
Negan kept sitting down staring at Daryl, cautious by the unreadable look on the redneck's face.
"When you killed Jed, I thought about pulling my gun out and shooting you in the head. Right there the first place we met you." He started
"Why didn't you?" Negan asks, just confused, after a minute.
"Because I didn't want to become just like you." Daryl answers. "Maggie seems to think I don't want to kill you. I don't want to see Glenn avenged. I think about it sometimes. But even if I wanted to, I couldn't. We have our problems, we'll always have them, but we are both part of the same group and whether we want to admit it, We care about each other. We don't want to see the other die. Or at least anymore dead. We lost too much on either side to let it fall apart."
"Did you say you care Boss?" The former Warlord grinned.
Daryl just gave him a warning stare, as if saying not to push it.
"Madison talked to you, didn't she?" Negan guessed.
"You belong with us, not out in the woods eating rabbits and fighting walkers. After the bridge is built, you'll never step foot in Hilltop again, I promise. Maggie will come over when you're on runs to see Merle and Ofelia. You stay out of her way, she'll stay out of yours."
Negan nods.
"I am going to go radio, Shane, and Morgan, and see how things are going. Alicia and Madison might want some company with the babies."
"What kind of man would I be if I didn't help the woman," Negan says as he stands. Negan walks back past Daryl. He stops and looks at him. "You're still an asshole."
Daryl snorted "Same to you. And thank Laura, she already talked to Maggie about you and Hilltop."
Negan whipped his head to him, incredulous that she stepped into what was the lion's den "She did what!?"
Rosita's P.O.V
Rosita helps Morgan carry the woman's body outside. They lay it in the grave. They didn't say anything as they began to put the dirt back onto the grave. After they finish, they put the shovels back in the car. Rosita walks back over to Morgan, who is standing by the grave. Rosita grabs his hand. "We should have been faster, we don't even know her name." Morgan says.
"We can't save everybody, Morgan, that's one of the first things we figured out in this. We did everything we could," Rosita says. "We gave her a proper burial. A lot of people don't get that."
"We gotta get to the lumber yard. It will be dark soon." Morgan said tiredly, still staring at the grave.
"I'll drive." Rosita offered to him kindly. Morgan nods as she climbs into the driver's seat and leaves the farm.
Rosita drives the truck down the road and turns onto the dirt road that leads to the campgrounds. "Rosita, we gotta get back."
"We'll go back tomorrow morning tonight. We need a break," Rosita says. Morgan nods.
Cyndie's P.O.V
Cyndie sat in her tent when Rachel walked in. "You hear anything yet?" Cyndie asks.
"No here," Rachel says. "But yesterday, I heard a pretty interesting conversation between Maggie and Al."
"About what?" Cyndie asks her.
"Maggie seems to think that Carl has something to do with Negan being alive. Daryl slipped up while they were arguing," Rachel says with a smirk.
Cyndie smiles and nods. "If Carl does have something to do with it, that means Rick knows, which means Daryl knows, and that means Charlie most likely knows. Get it out of her."
"I've been trying. She doesn't trust me at all. Hell, I'm starting to think she's using me for the same reason I'm using her," Rachel says with irritation.
"She was a spy for another group." Cyndie says. "Nick told me about that when we were going to the prison. Distract her someway, even if it's just for a minute, distract her long enough to get here to say something."
"You make it sound easy," Rachel says with a sigh. "I'll get it out of her...Cyndie look she's actually pretty cool, can't we-"
Gently, but firmly, Cyndie said "No we can't. She might be nice to you but she's still the kid of the bitch who let that lunatic out of his cell. Hell he should have been killed ages ago, and if Maggie eventually get's her head on straight, she'll have to remember that her love for her husband is stronger than the so called 'family' who double crossed her the second they didn't let him bleed out."
Rachel said "But what if Al-"
"That naive reporter?" Cyndie gave Rachel an unimpressed look "She has no say in this. She wasn't here. She doesn't get or fathom what the Saviors did to us, what they did to Maggie. If she has any sense, she'll stay out of this along with the rest of that damn camp. None of them have any possible idea what they took from us, it's time that they be shown it. Try to get Charlie to understand that. Ok?"
After a moment...Rachel nodded, but with a bit of hesitation.
By then Cyndie nods her dismissal as Rachel leaves the tent.
Thanks for reading. There will be one more chapter before we go onto everything else in the bridge saga. The next chapter will be focused mainly on the bridge camp. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.