Chapter 67-Finding a runaway

John's P.O.V

John and Dorie sat in chairs on the beach of the lake. They did this once every week, and John would tell his Dad what had happened since he left. "So one night, I was sitting around a fire, and I heard a walker, and when I shot it, there was Morgan and Daryl," John says. "Morgan wasn't the most trusting person."

"Really? I thought that would be Daryl," Dorie says as he looks at his son, his eyes furrowed.

"Daryl was the one who accepted my invitation to sleep in the car," John tells him. "A lot of bad things have happened since the start of all of this, but I can save meeting June, Daryl, and Morgan at are the top of my list for the best things that have happened."

"I heard that Daryl took a bullet for you," Dorie remarked, smiling.

"He did," John says. "He almost died for me. I might have never found June if it wasn't for him and Morgan. Daryl's my best friend, my brother."

Dorie nods. "So, what happened next?"

"I want to ask you a question," John says.

"What is it?" Dorie asks.

"What were you doing in Texas? Why didn't you come sooner?" John asks.

"I was looking for Teddy," Dorie says after a moment.

"He's in prison. He probably died there."

"He didn't, I went there, John, he wasn't there, and I saw the signs, and I kept looking, and one day I was close to the cabin, and I needed to know if you were alive, so I went in there. You went there, but I knew you had been, and I knew you were alive. I looked for you and Teddy, and I didn't find either. I found Sherry, and she told me of her mission to come here, and we made a deal. I help her get Negan, and she helps me find you," Dorie explains. "We found you both in the same place."

John nods. "So Daryl and Morgan left during the night," John says as he continues telling his father his story.

Al's P.O.V

Al stabs her spikes into a walker's head and pushes it to the ground. She looks at Arthur as he cuts down another one with his tomahawk. "Thanks for the help," Al says to Arthur, who nods. He pulls out his notebook and holds it out to Al.

"You're with Maggie, right?" He wrote. Al nods. "Why isn't she leading Hilltop?"

"Maggie's husband was killed by a man named Negan, and he lives with another community. With Daryl, that's a whole other story, but Maggie was mad, and she made a mistake, and someone got hurt, so she stepped down, and now Beth and Tara are leading while she heals." Al tells Arthur, who stared for a moment, confused. Clearly, a great deal of history he had to catch up on here.

Al looks forward as they see more walkers. "We aren't done."

Sherry's P.O.V

Sherry sat beside Nick as they ate breakfast. She looks up and sees one of the ex-saviors looking at her. "You almost done?" Sherry asks Nick as she looks at him.

"Yeah, I'm done, let's go," Nick says as he stands up and walks away. Sherry follows him. "That guy likes you."

"I'm good. My experience with saviors is bad," Sherry says as she stops where they usually practice. Nick nods as he grabs his stick. "How much longer are you staying here?"

"You getting sick of me?" Nick grinned, amused.

"No no, I like your community. But don't you miss your sister and Mom?" Sherry asks.

"Yeah, I talk to them when I can. They belong at the campgrounds. I don't know where I belong. I was hoping to find that out while I was out here," Nick says. Sherry nods. "My whole life, I've been trying to find out where I belong, the Stadium felt like home to me, and then we lost it, and we came here, and for a while, the campgrounds did too, but then everybody started to move on with their lives. Daryl and Alicia had kids, my Mom and Shane are getting married, Luciana got with Alden, Strand and Cole got together. It felt like everybody was moving on beside me, so I left to find my place."

"I get it. I never found my place in Texas and thought that was because of Negan, but I was wrong, and now I gotta find my place too."

Nick nods as they begin.

Rick's P.O.V

Rick sat on his porch watching Judith and AJ as they played. He looked at Michonne as she walked out of the house. Michonne's stomach was growing from the baby. They had found out that the baby was a girl two months ago. She smiles at him as she takes a seat. "We've become babysitters," Michonne says with a smile.

"I'm a cripple, and you're a pregnant woman. We aren't useful for much else," Rick says with a smile back. "Clementine is helping Eugene fix the water system, and Kenny and Lilly are helping Scott and Aaron fix the damaged part of the wall on the south side," Rick tells Michonne, who nods.

"We got some time. We could think of a name," Michonne offers.

"Sounds like you already have one," Rick looked over with curiosity.

"I got the first name." Michonne corrects. "Andrea. Think about it. This was all because of her. I saved her in the woods. If I didn't do that, I might have never met any of you."

Rick nods, grinning and patted her stomach gently, her hand over his. "I like it," Rick says. "I think Carl will too."

"Where is he?" Michonne asks.

"He left for the campgrounds this morning. He wanted to see Negan," Rick says. "Enid was going to see Maggie while he went to see Negan."

Michonne nods with a sigh. For the life of her she'd probably never understand the bond those two shared, but Carl still insisted Negan was his responsibility, so she wouldn't dissuade him.

Carl's P.O.V

Carl sat at the table in Negan's cabin. Negan sat across from him and set a beer down in front of him, after telling him when he arrived that there was a surprise. "Where did you get this?"

"I took a few from the stash we found at that outpost." Negan tells him with a grin as he sits down. "Drink."

"I'm 18." Carl says, staring at it. Now he resolved to not tell his Dad or Michonne this.

"And the dead are walking. Laws don't matter anymore, kid," Negan says. Carl sighs as he takes the beer. He closes his one eye in disgust, coughing.

"That tastes horrible." Carl says as he sets the bottle down and takes a drink of water. Negan laughs as he takes a drink. Carl sits back down. "Fuck, how do you drink that shit?"

"Years of practice, kid." Negan says with a grin, clearly amused at the language from the usually mature teen. "So, how have things been in Alexandria?"

"Good, we're doing good. My Dad is healing, and Michonne and the baby are doing good." Carl says, then he looked at him warily. Seeing his raised eyebrow, Carl said "So is Maggie."

Negan nods as he sets the beer down. "How is her kid doing?"

"Good," Carl says as he stares at Negan, who looked out the window. The two knew each other too well to hide much from each other. "What's wrong?"

"You know, what I think about sometimes. I think about that kid growing up and finding out what I did, and then I think about him coming to find me and killing me. I wouldn't blame him, but I don't want a kid to be influenced by revenge." Negan says, soon taking a big sip of beer. "I guess it's true what they say. Your past always comes back to haunt you."

"If that kid is anything like Glenn, he won't. He won't forgive you, but he won't hurt you." Carl says. Negan nods as he takes a drink.

"Let's talk about something a little less depressing. How are things going with you and Enid?"

Carl smiled warmly "we're doing-"

"You two fuck yet?"

Carl stopped, coughing on his spit as Negan just leaned back roaring in laughter.

Charlie's P.O.V

Charlie and Rachel walked around the lake. "You sure Daryl or Alicia aren't going to come looking?" Rachel asks her, looking back at the camp nervously.

"They know we can handle ourselves," Charlie says as she looks at the water. "They trust us."

"You mean they trust you," Rachel corrects. "They may be coming around to me but trusting me is still a little away."

"I trust you," Charlie says. 'For the most part."

"You and Daniel may be the only ones," Rachel says. "I think Negan still thinks I'm going to kill him during the night."

"I think Negan is always thinking that about everybody." Charlie says with a chuckle.

"You said you trusted me," Rachel says with a smile.

"So?" Charlie asks her.

"You remember the deal we made when I first came?"

Charlie groans and nods. "Yes, I told you I'd give you a chance. I should have sent you back."

"Probably," Rachel says. She grabbed Charlie by the back of her head and kissed her. Charlie laid her hands on Rachel's hips as she kissed her. Rachel moved back after a second. "Was that so bad?"

"Shut you. You're ruining the moment," Charlie says before she kisses her again.

Al's P.O.V

Al and Arthur walked into a building with their weapons out. They were looking for seeds for Hilltop at one of the nearby towns. Al shines her flashlight around the shelf and looked around smiling as she saw some seeds on the shelf. She grabs them and starts to put them on her back. She looked at Arthur as he tapped a shelf and pointed towards a back room, his eyes narrow. He pulled out his tomahawk, and she pulled out her gun. "If someone's back there, come out," Al says. A moment later, a woman walked out, dirty and disheveled. After a moment, Al lowered her gun slightly in shock "I know you. You're part of Oceanside. Your name is Cass."

"I was part of Oceanside." She growled, clearly recognizing her "That place isn't doing too well because of you people."

"It's not our fault. You killed Saviors. Cyndie broke the terms of the alliance." Al tried to defend.

"Fuck your alliance, fuck you too," Cass says. She raises her gun, but a tomahawk goes into her chest. She staggers back and falls to the ground. Arthur walks up to her and pulls his tomahawk out. He stabs her in the head.

"Let's go," Al says. Arthur stares at the woman for a moment, clearly wondering the story there, then looked at her nodding as he follows her.

Beth's P.O.V

Beth looked at Al as she walked in. "You get the seeds?"

"Yeah," Al says as she sets the bag down. "We ran into someone, a woman from Oceanside."

"That's past the boundaries." Beth looked up, in surprise. "Where is she?"

"Dead, she pulled her gun. Maybe she wanted to die, she didn't look good, she said Oceanside wasn't doing great." Al worried as she sits down.

"We can't help them, Al. You know that. They dug this hole for themselves. Now they gotta live with it." Beth says firmly. "Go to bed," Beth says.

"Goodnight, Beth," Al says as she leaves the office. Beth sat there silently. She was worried that this could be the start of something. She leaves the office and goes into the room with their radio.

"Reilly, you there?" Beth asks. It was silent for a few minutes.

"I'm here, Beth," Reilly says.

"Have any of your guys seen anything weird from Oceanside?"

"We found a note, someone ran off, and it said if you find her do what you please," Reilly says.

"We found her," Beth says. "She's dead."

"Don't worry, from what I can tell, most of Oceanside stay on their side, and we stay on ours. We'll deal with the runaways."

"Okay, night." Beth says as she sets the radio down and walks away.

Thanks for reading. This is not the start of anything, but I felt it was a good idea to bring up how Oceanside was doing, and this was the best way. I think maybe a few more chapters before we get into the next big arc. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.