Chapter 58-The killers are revealed

Daryl's P.O.V

Daryl woke up to the sound of yelling outside of his tent. He grabbed his crossbow and left the tent. "What's going on?" Daryl asks as he goes up to Morgan. Morgan points to a wagon, and Daryl frowns. In the wagon laid Justin. He had a hole through his chest and a knife mark on his head.

"Patrols found him. Rick kicked him out last night after he tried to attack Charlie," Morgan explains. Daryl looks at the group of Saviors forming, more than a few looking at him angrily, starting to shout that it was retaliation for knocking down Charlie.

"Shit," Daryl cursed.

Reilly moved towards the front of the saviors and stood in front of them. "Hey, enough!" He yells.

"Fuck you!" One snarled. "Our people are dying, and you are doing nothing. They'll kill us next."

"We all need guns," One of the Saviors says.

"We can't give you all guns." Daryl says.

"Maybe you were the one that killed Justin. Your bolts would make that hole. You probably killed him after he tried to hurt your daughter." Another one angrily accused, pointing at the redneck.

"If I killed him, I would have done it in front of you." Daryl says bluntly. "But I didn't. I didn't leave my tent last night."

The Saviors look at the others, again calling out. "We need guns!"

"No guns!" John says, stepping forward, saying authoritatively. "I know you are all scared, and you have every right to be, but if we turn against each other, this person or persons will be able to do whatever they want because we will be too distracted fighting each other. From now on, every one of Amanda's patrol officers will be with a group of saviors. One Savior of their choice will be armed in the group they are staying in, and when this is over, you will return the guns. Nobody is to leave the camp alone," John says loud enough for everybody to hear. "Does that sound fair?"

"Yeah, that's fair." Arat says.

"Good, get into groups. Amanda assigns someone to each group," John orders. Amanda nods as the Saviors start to form into small groups, gathering around her. John walks down to Daryl and looks at him.

"Good job," Daryl praised, patting his arm reassuringly. "You've done well."

"So, what's the plan?" Shane asks as he comes over to them with Negan. "They know we're on to them. They're going to finish quickly."

Daryl looks at Negan, who is staring at Justin intently. "What is it?"

Negan paused, still staring...muttering "Laura was right, I should have fucking killed that asshole after he did it."

"Negan!" Daryl snapped, losing patience as the former Leader turned to him "What is it?!"

"Keep an eye on Arat."

"Dwight told me you think it's Oceanside. Why?" John asks.

"Justin was a part of the group of Saviors who followed Simon and killed all of the men inside Oceanside, then called Hallowbrant. The only other person here who was a part of that is Arat." Negan says aggravated. "I need that fucking list from Reilly."

"Maybe we don't." Daryl thought out loud. "If you're right they're going to try and catch her while we're all busy. We need to set a trap."

"You're suggesting using her as live bait?" Dwight asks in disbelief, and Daryl nods.

"Usually, after everybody finishes eating, we don't see Cyndie again or her friends," Shane says.

"She trusts you. You could convince her to do this," John says to Negan, who nods with a sigh as he walks away from them.

Negan's P.O.V

Negan finds Arat in a group being guarded by Aaron. "Arat," Negan says. "Come here, we gotta talk," Negan says. Arat nods and walks towards Negan, who leads her away.

"What is it?" Arat asks respectfully.

"We think they are targeting the Saviors who attacked Oceanside. We think it's Oceanside, and from what I can see..."

"I'm the last one," Arat finishes blankly. Negan nods. Arat runs her hand over her short hair. "Okay, how do we stop them from killing me?"

"We set a trap...using you," Negan says after a pause.

"Seriously?"

"You'll be safe. We'll keep you safe, but who knows what they'll do if they can't get you." Negan says as he lays his hand on her shoulder. Arat nods.

Rick's P.O.V

Rick sat on a log watching the camp and patrols when Daryl came up to him. "got a plan?"

"Hopefully." Daryl says as he sits across from him.

"I'm sorry you were dragged here." Rick turned, staring at him apologetically "I wanted to keep you out of this. You should be at Hilltop with your girlfriend and kids." Rick says. After a moment, he chuckled, causing Daryl to look at him with a raised brow. "Sorry sorry, I just never thought I would end a sentence about you with kids. Daddy Daryl never thought I'd see it."

"You and me both," Daryl says with a smile, then his face fell. "Rick, listen...Things could go bad tonight. I need to get something off my chest."

Rick nods, he could hear the grave tone of Daryl's voice, but he could also hear worry. "What is it?"

"After the war, after it was all said and done after you finished your talk with Negan and I sent Dwight away," Daryl pauses for a second, turning his head to stare at the camp then looked down at his feet in shame. "That night Maggie, Jesus and I agreed to something. We agreed that we'd kill Negan, that we'd do it without your knowledge and behind your back. We'd kill him no matter what we had to do."

Daryl looked back up at Rick's face, and it was emotionless.

"Rick-"

Standing up from the log, walking away, rubbing his brow...Rick had his back to him for a moment...then he started emotionlessly.

"You were willing to throw it all away for revenge? Did you not think of the people we lost during the war? Sasha? Tobin? Eric? Everybody the Kingdom lost, Hilltop, everything that happened, everybody who died wouldn't have mattered. Carl almost died for Christ's sake, he risked Everything to try to help Negan." Rick says his voice rising, then he stopped taking a breath to try to calm himself. "Did they not matter to you?"

"They did." Daryl says standing up, trying to reason. "I wasn't thinking. I was so filled with rage, with guilt, but then I left, and I'm so glad I did. I was wrong, Rick. I saw what it did to people and Alicia, Strand, Luciana, and Nick. I came back, and I told Maggie I was out. She could still do it if she wanted, just to make sure nobody got hurt." He then saw this was a minor mistake, seeing Rick's fists tightened at that. "But now if she tried, I would stop her. Negan's one of my people. I'm sorry," Daryl says. Rick stares at the ground for a second and nods.

"I need a minute."

Staring for a moment...then nodded and silently walked away, leaving Rick in his thoughts.

Make sure no one gets hurt...

He then looked up at the camp, his face going bone white, remembering something from a month before.

"No...please tell me she didn't..."

The woods, night

Arat walked out of the woods and towards the Hallowbrant research facility. She looked around the place, and memories of what they did came back to her. "You have some nerve." She hears from behind her, causing her eyes to close. She turns around and looks at Cyndie, who stood with Beatrice, Kathy, Rachel, and two other women.

"Please, you don't have to do this. I've changed." Arat held her hands up, showing she was unarmed.

"Is that supposed to make it better?" Cyndie asks, her tone filled with venom. "Does that bring my brother back? All the people you murdered?"

"No." Arat admitted after a moment, then her eyes furrowed. "Did you ever actually believe in the world that Rick was building?"

"We did at first." Beatrice answered. "But then he spared Negan, letting us have no damn say, and then Daryl let him out. That's when we knew we had to take justice into our own hands."

"Get on your knees." Cyndie says, pointing at her.

"No." Arat says defiantly.

"Fine," Cyndie says. "You'll die slowly, and I'll enjoy it just like you did when-" Cyndie raises the spear and is shot in the shoulder by an arrow. She lets out a groan of pain as she drops the spear. Beatrice and Kathy reach for their guns, but are both shot in the hand, causing them to scream and cradle their arms, the rest of them looking around in panic.

"Drop 'em." Daryl orders as he comes out from behind them.

Rachel and the other two threw their guns to the ground as the group was quickly surrounded. Negan goes up to Arat. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Arat says shakily, the emotions of the last few minutes rushing up.

"Go on, Reilly is waiting for you by the treeline," Negan tells Arat, who nods.

"No. No! She needs to die! She killed my brother." Cyndie protested as Daryl held her down as she struggled.

"And that gives you the right to kill her? Go behind our backs?" Daryl asks.

"This is done," John says. He nods to Amanda, who motions for her officers to go forward. Dwight grabs Cyndie and ties her hands behind her back with zip-ties.

"There are more of us." Beatrice growls, grimacing as her wounded hands were tied.

"There ain't. They're being rounded up as we speak," Shane said. "Why do you think there are only eight of us?" The group consisted of Shane, Dwight, Amanda, Negan, Daryl, John, Carol, and Alden.

"What's going to happen to us?" Kathy asks.

"I don't know. That's for the rest of us to decide." Daryl says. "Take 'em back to camp, two guards on each of 'em."

The others nod as they start to pick them up off their knees.

Reilly's P.O.V

Reilly sat beside Arat in her tent. "Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just a little shaken up." Arat answers. "They weren't wrong. We did horrible things to them. I don't plan them for wanting to kill us,"

"That doesn't make what they did right." Reilly says to Arat steadily, who nods. "I'd prefer if you didn't die. I need you. I was just a soldier, you were a lieutenant. They respect you. If you had died, god knows what would have happened."

"At least someone does." Arat says with a small grin.

"The Saviors need you," Reilly says. "Now get some sleep." Arat nods as she lays down.

"Thanks, Reilly." Reilly nods at her as he leaves the tent.

Sighing, Arat just hung her head, wondering about the choices made to get to this point

Rachel's P.O.V

Rachel sat with her back against a bed. Her arms were tied to the legs of the bed, and she was staring at the ground. Her hair fell down her face. She looked up when she heard whispers outside her tent. After a moment, the tent flapped open, and Charlie walked in, and Rachel felt like she had been punched in the stomach. Her eyes were red, and Rachel could tell they were from her crying. "Charlie, I'm-"

"Was any of it real?" Charlie interrupts her.

"It was, I promise you it was, you were right. At first, I was just a spy told to watch you. I was meant to get information that would help us get Negan and the Saviors. Cyndie thought you would just be happy to have a friend, and you would say something. But I grew to care about you, and the day in the woods was one of the best of my life. At first, this was all I wanted. I wanted to see the Saviors dead, but the night after we got back, Cyndie said that we were going to kill the Saviors and stop anybody who got in her way, like Daryl or Rick, and all I could think about was how that would hurt you. I wanted to tell you the truth."

"Then why didn't you?" Charlie asks.

"Because when I did, I would have betrayed the people who saved me." Rachel says sadly, her eyes full of tears. "I'm sorry."

"Did you kill anybody?" Charlie asks after a moment of silence.

"No, I was only at the last two," Rachel says.

"Goodbye, Rachel," Charlie says as she turns around to leave.

"Please, don't go! Please, I was wrong, and I'm sorry! I've lost so many people that I care about, please don't go!" Rachel says. Charlie says still for a moment before she leaves the tent. Rachel lowers her head and cries.

Charlie's P.O.V

Charlie walked away from Rachel's tent as fast as she could. Everybody was happy, and people sat around the fires talking with smiles on their faces and drinks in their hands. She walked towards the edge of camp and sat down. She put her head in her hands. "That can't be comfortable," Charlie looks up at Clementine and smiles.

"It's not," Charlie says as Clementine sits down beside her. "I'm so dumb."

"No, you aren't, you're a kid, and you wanted to believe that you had a friend who wasn't above the age of 30. And when you have a crush on someone, it blinds you."

"I thought she cared."

"She does," Clementine says. "I'm not saying you should forgive her, but if anybody here should understand where she's coming from, it's you. She had to choose between some she cared about and the group that saved her. You cared about Nick, but you picked Mel's group because they saved you, and you made a mistake, and they forgave you for it. You even tried to kill Nick. As I said, I can't control how you feel. I can just tell you what I think. Finding someone you like in this world is hard, don't be picky," Clementine says. "Now come on," She helps Charlie up and smiles at the girl. "We stopped the killings. Let's have some fun."

Charlie nods as she follows her.

Thanks for reading. Next chapter, the group decides what to do with Oceanside. A dangerous move is made, Charlie makes her decision, and Maggie has a choice to make. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.