Chapter 61-Decisions and consequences

Carl's P.O.V

Maggie stared at Carl, speechless. "What?" Maggie asks.

"My Dad was going to kill Negan. He was going to keep his promise. I talked to him out of it. I convinced him to let Negan live. So if you want to hate anybody, if you want to hurt anybody, you hurt me because I'm the reason that Negan is still breathing," Carl says firmly.

"You all hid it from me," Maggie says with hurt evident in her voice.

"Can you blame us?" Carl asks. "My Dad didn't want anybody knowing because he thought they might come after me."

"You saw what he did, and ever after, you let him live," Maggie hisses accusingly.

"I can't make excuses for him, Maggie, but I do believe in second chances. We gave Tara one even after she stood with the Governor," Carl says. "I wanted to kill him too."

"But you let him live anyway, after all the people he killed, after Glenn and Abraham. Even after all the people the Saviors killed. Like the people from Oceanside, like Cyndie's bro-" Maggie stops.

Carl stares at Maggie in dawning realization. "You knew," Carl stated. "You knew what they were doing. You knew they were going to kill them. You could have stopped it before anybody died."

"They got what they deserved," Maggie growls. "They all should die. They kept the communities as prisoners, robbed and extorted the supplies they fought for. They should have to live the same way."

"They killed people, Maggie! They could have been punished. All Cyndie had to do was talk to my Dad and Daryl about what happened! A riot almost happened at the labor camp after the bodies started to be found!" Carl snapped "People could have died!"

"Not people Carl. Saviors. Animals. And so what? They went behind your back? Daryl, Rick, and you went behind our back at the end of the war. Looking us in the fucking face and lying to us. Lying to ME," Maggie growls. "What's the difference?"

"Nobody died when we went behind yours," Carl says flatly. Maggie stared at him for a moment and turns around. "You said they all deserved it, does Alden? He was a Savior, Remember? Does Dwight also deserve to die? After he helped us?" Carl says. Maggie's body tenses and she stays quiet for a moment.

"Let's get out of this fucking hole," Maggie says, ignoring his comment. "Help me up."

They both stop when they hear growls from above. Carl quickly moves to the side. Maggie climbs on his shoulders. He pushes her up with a grunt, and she climbs out. She looks up with horror as they were completely surrounded, many now looking at them. "Holy shit," Maggie says.

"Maggie." Carl says. Maggie stares at him for a second before she reaches her arm down. Carl grabs her, and she pulls him up. Carl looks at the giant herd of walkers. "Cover me."

"What?" Maggie says. "Carl, if we try and get in the car, they'll surround us."

"There's a radio in the car," Carl says. "Cover me," Carl tells her as he pulls his gun out. He shoots two walkers by the driver's side door and shoots another in the head as he pulls the door open. Maggie shoots the one's closet as Carl grabs the radio and runs back to her as the walkers get closer. "There's a cabin close to here. Come on," Carl says as he starts to run. Maggie follows him, and so does the herd.

Daryl's P.O.V

Daryl drives into the camp, and Shane looks at him. "Is Maggie here?" Daryl asks.

"No. What's going on?" Michonne asks warily.

"Maggie killed Gregory," This drew many stunned looks, not expecting it so soon. "Now Enid, Carl, and Maggie are gone. I think that little shit said something to piss her off and Maggie is coming to kill Negan," Daryl says as he looks at the former Savior leader.

"Well fuck," Negan says flatly. "It was going to happen sooner or later Boss."

"We're not going to let her get you, Negan," Shane says as they hear a truck. They look towards the entrance as Enid drives in.

Some tensed up seeing Maggie's foster daughter come inside, Negan giving her a curious glance.

"Where are they?" Alden asks as Enid climbs out. "What happened?"

"Maggie was coming here. Carl and I had a plan in case this ever did happen. He's with her now. He's going to stop her from killing him," Enid says. The group stared at her in silence, not expecting her to just willingly go against Maggie knowing how close she was to Glenn. Negan and Enid stared at each other with no emotions in their eyes. Enid looks at Daryl. "I trust Carl."

"Maybe it would be best if I gave myself to Maggie," Negan says.

"What?" Morgan asks, many heads whipping to him, Daryl and Enid's faces looking as if they weren't sure they heard him right.

"She's going to get me at some point or another. If I give myself to her, then you guys won't have to hurt her or kill her. She's your family. You shouldn't have to choose between us." Negan says.

Everybody stared at Negan in silence, and then Shane spoke. "You can do that after you tell Laura. You did promise her Dad you would look after her, right?" Shane says flatly.

"You don't fight fair, fuck you," Negan growled, but slumped his massive shoulders.

"Where are they?" Daryl demanded to Enid.

"In a clearing about thirty minutes from here." Enid answers while looking down.

"You're going to take us there," Daryl says. Enid nods as her radio goes off.

"Enid," Carl says.

"I'm here," Enid says. Michonne grabs the radio.

"Carl Grimes, where the hell are you?" Michonne asks Carl, many hearing the tone and not wanting to be Carl right now.

"In a cabin," Carl says.

"What? Enid said you were in a clearing," Michonne says as she looks at Enid.

"We were. We fell, and then we got out, and we ran, we're surrounded by a herd Michonne. A big one, bigger than the one that came into Alexandria, it's bad," Carl says. Daryl could see Michonne's dark skin pale and saw the fear in her eyes.

"You stay quiet. You understand me. We're going to save you," Michonne says, her voice tight and trying to not lose control.

"Michonne-"

"Carl stay there and stay quiet." Michonne says firmly before she throws Daryl the radio.

"Get groups together and drive to lure the walkers away with a gun," Daryl orders everybody, who nods as they start to split into groups.

"Daryl." Rick begged weakly from the entrance of the tent, the crowd turning seeing him slumped at the side. "Let me come."

"You're too weak, Siddiq said your body needs a few days to get the poison out." Daryl says as he goes up to him, cursing Gregory, knowing this had to have been killing Rick while his son was in danger. "We're going to save him. You stay here, man. We're going to save Carl. I promise." Daryl says. "We're going to save 'em both." Daryl goes away from Rick and goes towards his bike as June gets Rick back in the tent.

Rick's P.O.V

Rick watched as June and Siddiq left the tent to see how efforts were going. He looked at the radio on the nightstand and grabbed it. He slowly stood up, his stomach turning and tossing, but he steadied himself walked towards the flap. He looked around and saw the camp was mostly empty. He walked out of the tent and walked down to his horse. He slowly climbed on the horse and moved it forward onto the road before he made it go faster. "I'm coming, Carl," Rick says weakly.

Everything up to this point was to keep his boy safe, he wasn't going to just sit back now.

Carl's P.O.V

Carl could hear the growls of the walkers around them. He looked at Maggie, his eye tearing up. "I never wanted this." Carl says softly to her, causing Maggie to look at him. "I never wanted to hurt you, I never meant to put you in pain. I just wanted peace for all of us."

"Why did Negan need to be alive for that? Why does he get to have peace and not my husband?" Maggie asks tiredly.

"I had a dream. We were all happy. My Dad was old, Judith was older, and she was happy. We were at peace. The war was over. Negan was alive in it. He was at peace, he was happy, I wanted to make that dream come true, I wanted it for Judith, for My Dad, for you, Daryl, Negan. For all of us," Carl says. "I wanted that New world Jesus was talking about to come true. I wanted Judith and Hershel to grow up not having to worry about walkers. I wanted to live, I wanted to do what Glenn and your father wanted to do. I just wanted to make a world to show that killing isn't always the answer. I'm sorry Maggie." Carl says begging to her.

Maggie stays silent, staring at him with wide eyes...as a walker hits the wall. "This is my fault."

"It's not just your fault." Carl says. "We've all made mistakes."

Daryl's P.O.V

Daryl stopped his bike close to the woods and could see the herd. It had taken them about an hour to find where the herd was. "Try to lure them away," Daryl says over the radio. "We move 'em away from the cabin. Shane, Morgan, and John will go in and help them."

Daryl starts to hear gunshots go off and sees the herd shift but not in the right direction, to his befuddlement. "Where are they going?" He hears Alden say over the radio. He hears another gunshot in the distance.

"Who's over there?" Daryl demands over the radio, looking as the herd started to turn more and more with each shot.

"I don't know." John says.

Rick's P.O.V

Rick shot his gun up in the air and saw the walkers turn and look at him. He was close to the herd. They started to move towards him, and he turned the horse around and slowly moved down the road, clutching his turning stomach, growling. If Maggie hadn't killed the slimy son of a bitch, he would have. He shot his Colt into the air again. "Who the hell is over there?" He hears Shane say on the radio.

"It's me." Rick says grimely, looking at the herd.

"Rick, what the hell are you doing!?" Daryl barked, his southern drawl having a twinge of panic.

"Carl's in trouble. Did you really think I would stay in that tent?" Rick growled back, firing again, this time at a walker who was getting to close, blowing it's head off.

"Rick, you're too weak, your not even supposed to be fucking walking!" Daryl snapped.

"I know where to take the walkers, Daryl. I know how to stop people from dying." Rick said emotionally, gulping down, Cyndie's warning clear in his mind that the worst was yet to come, but he wasn't going to let it come true.

Not for his family, and especially not His Son.

"I wasn't able to save Glenn or Abraham. I wasn't able to save Lori, T-dog, Dale, Sasha, Hershel, Noah, Andrea, and all the others. But I can save Carl and Maggie. I can save all of you. I can give you the chance to be a father."

"Where are you going?" Shane demands, his voice then heard off the radio barking orders to follow the herd.

"We left dynamite on the bridge," Rick says. "I saw it yesterday."

"Rick-" Daryl says.

"Get Carl and Maggie out, their the priority not me. Hershel needs his father and my son is outliving me one way or another." Rick ordered before he sets the radio on and continues on.

"Rick, you don't have to do this, man. We can figure something else out. Just let us get the herd, we'll get out in front of it! We didn't survive all this for you to blow yourself up. We didn't survive trying to kill each other for you to die!" Shane begged on the radio, his voice off of it screaming orders to the workers and labor camp to get ahead of a camp and stop 'that idiot from killing himself'.

Rick presses the button. "I've had my happiness, Shane. I need you all to be safe. I need Carl and Michonne to be safe. You know you got a good woman Shane and some pretty amazing kids. I hope you have the same joy I did when. Enjoy your life, brother. You deserve it."

He kept on for about 20 minutes before his world went black.

Shane's P.O.V

Shane looked at Michonne, his face ashen white. "Go stop him. We'll get Carl. Go." Shane tells Michonne.

"I'm going to kill him!" Michonne promised as she runs towards one of the cars with Amanda and Dwight.

"Someone is sleeping on the couch tonight," Negan says, and Shane glares at him. "Sorry. Relfex."

"Let's get these guys so we can go help 'em," John says as they start to run.

Shane nodded and ran to the car "Step on it!"

Carl's P.O.V

Carl pushed the door open and looked at Shane, Morgan, and John, them immediately deciding Negan to wait in one of the cars, not sure how Maggie would react in this state even as bad as it was. "Who led them away?" Carl asks.

"Your Dad." Shane says.

"What? Daryl said he'd been poisoned," Carl says, staring at his uncle figure bewildered.

"We tried to stop him, Carl. He did it after we left. We gotta get back to help him," Shane says. Carl and Maggie nod as they follow Shane through the woods until they get to the truck. Carl climbs in as John and Negan climb in the bed. Shane starts the truck and drives off his tires, screeching against the pavement, pushing the peddle to the floor.

Rick's P.O.V

Rick quickly stood up and looked around. The herd was close to him. He quickly pulled himself up, shot a walker in the head, and continued to move. He used his ax and cut another of their head's off, the herd was much closer. Rick slowly moved down the road, still a bit faster, his body and especially his heart aching when he saw the bridge.

He fell on his knee for a second, then growled and stood up, quick shooting three more approaching him "come on you old man, get up, keep moving."

He pulled out his radio. "Carl, Michonne," Rick says as he moves.

"Dad," Carl says. "Where are you?"

"I"m by the bridge," Rick answers. "Can you hear me, Michonne?"

"Yeah, we're almost there. You son of a bitch, I'm gonna kill you and kiss you I swear to God!" Michonne screamed frantically into the radio.

"Carl, I'm so proud of you, take care of your sister for me, son, you're so strong. Lori was right and she was wrong."

At the back of the speeding truck, Carl stared at the radio, eyes full of tears, confused and terrified.

"She was right, you are gonna beat this world...but not just that...your gonna make it a better place. Help Daryl and Maggie, it's in their hands now. I love you, Carl." Rick says as he walked. "Michonne-"

She stared at the radio in horror and screamed at Dwight in the Driver's seat "Faster!"

"Make sure to tell our child stories. I'm sorry, Michonne, I know you'll be okay, don't push them away. You need our family. I love you." Rick puts his radio away and continues to walk.

He walked towards the bridge and stepped onto the bridge. He heard the bridge under him as he walked. He fell on his knees, his heart hitting him with a strike of pain and turned to see a walker right behind it. An arrow goes through its head. Staring at it, he smiled warmly...always knowing Daryl would be there having his back "Rick get out of there, we're on the other side, move your dumbass!" Daryl begged into the radio. Rick moves away from the walkers and gets to the end of the bridge. He stops as he sees the others start to move. He pulls out his revolver and grabs the radio. He sees the dynamite.

"Daryl." Rick says as he stands.

"Rick, what are you doing? Keep going, move!" Daryl says into the radio in horror, seeing the gun drawn. Rick pulls the hammer back.

"Take care of them, brother." Rick says.

"Rick don-" Daryl is cut off by Rick firing his gun and in a massive display of fire, the bridge exploded, sending him on his back and echoing for several miles.

Daryl's P.O.V

"Rick!" Daryl screamed as he stares at the bridge and the burning walkers. Tears moved down his face as he desperately walked through the trees. He got to the top of the hill and stepped onto the pavement. He looks towards his bridge and drops his crossbow as he sees a hand, under a pile of rubble. He runs towards the hand and falls to the ground. He pulls the wood off of it and sees Rick's face, torn and bruised, but still there. He quickly pulled it out until there was one piece left. A piece several inched thich that was in Rick's right leg, Daryl grabs his radio, staring at it stunned. "I need help." Daryl says quickly.

"Daryl, what is it?" Shane asks.

"Rick's alive. I need help. We're on the other side of the bridge. His leg is bleeding. It's bad, he's in bad damn shape." Daryl says. "Hurry, get your aww here now!" Daryl pulls his rag out of his back pocket and pushes it against the blood. "You stay alive, brother, don't die." Daryl demanded, gulping down tears to stay strong. "I need you, Rick."

"...A...are they..." A weak groan came out.

"Their alive, we got them out." Daryl said "Don't talk, you need to rest." Daryl says as he hears footsteps. He turns and sees Shane, Alden, and Negan, all three men staring at the form in horror, Shane in particular looking ready to feint as if seeing a familiar sight. "Don't you three idiots just stand there, pick him up!" Daryl says. They come over to him and fully look at the wound.

"We gotta get him to Siddiq and June." Daryl says. "Be careful with the wound." He looked at Negan and ordered "Do not let Carl see this."

They nod as they start to pick him up as carefully as they could.

Maggie's P.O.V

Maggie and Carl stood on the outside of the camp in silence. They had all heard the radio message. Nobody had spoken when Negan, Shane, and Alden left. They heard Michonne crying and Carol sitting by her, her arms wrapped around her in comfort. Then they heard the footsteps and Carl went running. The first person to emerge from the trees was Negan, who ran and grabbed Carl by the shoulders tightly. "Let me go! DAD!" Carl screamed but Negan held onto him.

"You don't need to see him, kid." Negan says as he places himself firmly in front of Carl.

"Is he alive?" Carl asks.

"He's alive." Negan says. "He doesn't look good, kid. You don't need to see your old man like that. He slit my throat, and I didn't like seeing him like that," Negan says. "Just look at me." Carl stared at Negan, who kept his arms on Carl. Maggie looked away from them when she heard more footsteps and her eyes widened. Shane, Daryl, and Alden came out of the treeline. She looked Rick up and down. His face was dirty and had cuts and blood on it. His clothes were torn, cuts went down his upper body, and his entire left leg was red. Maggie knew that Negan was in her range now, but she could only think about how she might have done the same thing Negan did. Negan took Hershel's father away, she might have just taken Judith's father from her.

She stared in growing horror then...she looked over and saw Michonne's crying form...and the...

Way she held...

Her stomach.

Maggie dropped her crowbar, ashen white, begging that it wasn't true.

Negan's P.O.V

Negan sat by Carl in silence, the two sitting against a tree. He knew the teenager was in his own head right now. "You know, your Dad is the toughest son of a bitch I have ever met, he'll be fine." Negan started. Carl doesn't say anything, just staring at his lap. Negan stays silent for a few moments before he speaks again. "You know, before all of this shit when I was with Lucille, I cheated on her with her best friend."That caught Carl's attention, and he looked at him. "She had just been diagnosed with cancer, and I couldn't take it. But my Lucille was smart. She knew about it. I'm surprised she didn't shoot me or kick me out," Negan says with a chuckle. "She was strong."

"I shouldn't...I told Enid to take her out there. That's why we got trapped," Carl says, his voice breaking. "They should hate me. I did this," Carl says. Negan grabs Carl by his shoulder.

"You listen to me, kid, there's a reason I told you about that and listen damn close. These people are your family, they love you, all of them love you. Sure some of them may be ashamed or disappointed at you at times, or they might want to punch your fucking teeth out, they can even hate you, hate what you've become...but they'll never stop loving you. That's what my Lucille taught me. So you can cry, yell, punch something, punch me, but this was not your fault, and these people will never hate you. They'll love you until the day they stop breathing," Negan says firmly. "Now do what you gotta do, and then when you get back, we'll wait for as long as it takes until Rick the prick decides to wait up and stop making his friends and family cry. He's going to wait up. He and my Lucille shared a few things. They are both stubborn as shit and will not die until they are good and fucking ready."

Carl smiles and nodded. "Okay."

Maggie's P.O.V

Maggie looks at Daryl as he comes out of the tent. "Is he..."

"They don't know. He lost a lot of blood, it looked bad." Daryl says.

The two stood in silence, Daryl's back to her, his fists clenched...Maggie begging to know what was going on through his head.

"Daryl, I didn't mean for this to happen," Maggie says.

"You think that matters!?" Daryl shouts at Maggie, who takes a step back, his head turning to her with fury that was never once directed at her. "You know, you are so fucking mad that he spared Negan, but you wouldn't even have Hershel if it wasn't for Rick! You would have never married Glenn!" Daryl shouts at Maggie. "Hell, you wouldn't even be alive! He got us through that winter! We wouldn't have survived the Governor. We would have never gotten here to Virginia in the first fucking place! You would have never made it off of that fucking farm! HE DID ALL THAT OR DID YOUR Fucking THRONE IN BARRINGTON MAKE YOU FORGET?!" Daryl shouts into Maggie's face. "If he dies," Daryl pauses, swallowing his tone and locked eyes with her with a chilling promise. "If he dies, you'll be on your own." Daryl tells her.

Tears go down Maggie's face. "I didn't mean for this."

"No, you didn't," Daryl says. "Don't move," Daryl says as he grabs her gun out of her holster, and then he takes her knife. He looks at Alden. "I want guards on her. She tries anything, ties her up."

"Daryl-" Maggie's eyes widened

"Don't Daryl me," Daryl growls. "You caused this. You went after Negan. Carl had to stop you. You got trapped because of it. Rick had to leave because of it. Want me to go on?" Daryl spat. He walks away from Maggie, trying not to say anything more he would regret.

Carl's P.O.V

Carl looks at Daryl as he walks up to him, Negan having left him alone, saying tiredly. "If you're going to yell at me, do it."

"What the hell were you thinking, Carl!?" Daryl shouts at him. "You should have let us handle it."

"I couldn't," Carl says as he stands up. "All of this, everything that has happened since the end of the war, it was because of me, you left because I talked my Dad into saving Negan, Maggie's anger, I caused it, I'm the reason Negan's alive. He's my responsibility. I had to stop Maggie," Carl says. "What did they say about my Dad?"

"They're doing their best," Daryl says. "He's a fighter,"

"I'm sorry, Daryl." Carl says with tears in his eyes.

"I know kid." Daryl says softly. Daryl wraps his arm around Carl and hugs him.

Nobody said anything for the next hour. Daryl sat by a tree and stood up when June walked out of the tent. "How is he?" Michonne asks him.

"June, what is it?" John asks, noticing her silence.

"Is he dead?" Shane asks, his face white.

"No," June says. "He'll live."

Michonne choked down the relief seeing her face "what is it?"

June says. "It's his leg, Michonne, it's not good, he might be able to keep it, but he won't be able to walk on it by himself, he won't be able to leave Alexandria, he won't be able to kill walkers, he'll have to have someone helping him, and he'll need a cane."

"For how long?"

"I don't know," June answers. "It could be months. It could be years. It could forever."

Thanks for reading. Yes, Rick will still be in this story, but now he has something new to fight. This chapter showed Rick coming to the frontline, but now he will have no choice but to stay back. His leg is screwed. I loved this chapter, and Daryl's outburst was long overdue. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.