Chapter 72-Meeting at the campgrounds
Carl's P.O.V
Carl walked downstairs the next day with his hat on his head and his gun and hatchet on his belt. He looks at Arya sitting at the table with her gun and knife. "Where are you going?" Carl asks her as he grabs a cup of water.
"With you," Arya says with a hopeful tone. Carl looks at her and sighs, knowing he had taken in a free spirit.
"Arya-"
"Come on. Please? I haven't left Alexandria in months. I'm sick of it here. I'll be with all of you. You don't think I'd run away, do you?" She asks.
"No, I know you won't," Carl says. "If your mother says it's okay, you can come." Arya nods as Enid comes down the stairs.
"What is she asking me?" Enid asks him, hearing the tail end of that.
"If I can come with you to the campgrounds," Arya says. Enid looks at Carl and then at Arya. She stays silent for a moment before she nods.
"You can come, but you have to stay within our vision at all times," Enid says.
"I will, I promise," Arya says as she hugs Enid. "Thank you," She says before she goes outside.
"That girl will be the death of us," Enid says with a smirk.
"Remember, you're the one who wanted her," Carl rolled his one eye, causing Enid to smirk and shove her, as he follows her outside.
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl woke up when he felt something hit his chest. He opens his eyes and looks at Ofelia. "You gotta get up, Daddy! Uncle Rick is going to be here soon," She shouts excitedly. Ofelia was a little smaller than Merle. She had long brown hair and blue eyes, currently beaming innocently at him
"Okay, I'm getting up," Daryl groaned. Ofelia smiles as she jumps off the bed and leaves the room. Daryl grabs his vest and crossbow and puts his boots on. He walks into the living room and sees Charlie and Rachel leave the house with the kids. "Where are they going," Daryl asks Alicia, who looks at him and smirks. The two had gotten married six months after they had gotten engaged.
"Probably to cause chaos, I think to feed the animals," Alicia says as she turns back around. Daryl walks up behind her and wraps his arms around her waist.
"Did you send our daughter to wake me up?" Daryl asks her. Alicia chuckles as she turns around and wraps her arms around his neck.
"That was your older daughter and her girlfriend," Alicia says before she kisses him. "Speaking of them, we need to get them their own cabin," Alicia says as she grabs her sandwich.
"Why?" Daryl asks her.
"Because they sneak out to, you know," Alicia says teasingly.
"I got it," Daryl says hastily, not wanting to think about that "I'll talk with Madison and see what cabins are free."
Alicia nods as the door opens, and Negan walks in, causing them both to stop and stare at him irritated. "You know the point of a door is? So people don't barge in. Most people knock."
Negan grins as he walks outside and shuts the door. He knocks on the door. "I'm coming in," Negan says before pushing the door open.
"You're an ass," Alicia says.
"I know, you love me anyway," Negan says.
"Why are you here?" Daryl asks him, now unamused.
"Ezekiel, Carol, Henry, Nick, and Sherry are here," Negan tells them. "I figured you'd want to know," The two of them nod as they follow Negan outside and walk towards the gate. Carol walks up to him and hugs him. She lets him go and hugs Alicia.
"You look good, my friend," Ezekiel says as he hugs Daryl.
"You don't look too bad, yourself," Daryl says as he pats his shoulder.
"Are we the first people here?" Nick asks.
"Yeah, the others should be here soon," Shane says.
"I'm going to go see Morgan," Carol says before she walks away from them.
"Where are Charlie and Rachel?" Henry asks.
"Barn," Daryl tells Henry, who grins and runs towards it with enthusiasm.
Carl's P.O.V
Carl pulls his car into the campgrounds. Carl, Clementine, Enid, Arya, Rick, Jesus, and Kenny. They walk into the big cabin and see everybody waiting. Reilly had brought Norris and DJ, and Beth had brought Tara, Al, and Arthur. Daryl, Alicia, Madison, Shane, Morgan, John, and Negan stood in the room as well. "You take a lakeside drive?" Negan asks.
"We were doing our best to spend less time with you," Carl tells him. Negan smiles as he hugs him.
Daryl hugs Rick and looks around. "So why are we all here?" Daryl asks him.
"Jesus," Carl says to the man, who nods.
"Kenny and I found a community, a big one with a lot of people. It seemed like they had plenty of supplies and people. They would be a great trading partner." Jesus tells Daryl.
"Why didn't you approach them? They bad?" Arat asks.
"They were heavily armed and didn't seem too keen on talking with outsiders. But if we take a group in, a big one, and show them what we have to offer, we might be able to bring them in," Kenny says.
"How many you want to send?" John asks.
"Anything from 20 to thirty, at least one person from each community," Jesus says.
"I'll go," Negan says. "I need a damn break from this place."
"Why don't we get everybody from the campgrounds and let them decide if they want to go," Morgan suggests. Negan and John nod as they leave to gather everybody. A few minutes later, everybody from the campgrounds was in the cabin, and Jesus told them the same thing he told the others.
"I'll go," Strand says. "I can be quite persuasive."
"We would like you two to go," Jesus says as he looks at Daniel and Charlie. "Daniel, you're an expert in fighting arms and hand to hand combat, you'll be great to have out there, and Charlie, you can sneak in there if you need to, just like you did the stadium," Jesus explains.
"We'll come," Charlie says as she looks at Daniel, who nods.
"I'm coming," Carl says, making Rick and Enid look at him. "Dad come on, you did this all the time. I can help convince them," Carl says quickly.
Rick sighed, knowing there was no arguing and nodding, Enid crossing her arms clearly going to talk about this later.
"I'll go," Carol says. "This could go bad, and you can use every man you can get."
"We'll go too," Sherry says, motioning between her and Nick.
Arthur raised his hand, showing he was in.
"I'll come too," Al says.
"You sure? No offense Al but you haven't been a lot of runs since the bridge," Tara says.
"I can do it," Al says firmly. "I have videos of all four communities. We can take them with us and show them to their leader."
Negan looks at Laura as she opens her mouth. "Don't."
"I'm coming," Laura says. "I can fight better than most of them. I'm going."
"Pain in my ass," Negan mutters.
"I want to come," Tobias says softly from where he sat by June. "You'll need a doctor in case someone gets hurt, and I've been working with June the past few years."
"Okay," Jesus says before he looks at Daryl. "We could use someone with your skills."
"Take her, then," Daryl says as he nods to Clementine, who looks at him. "She knows how to shoot a crossbow and track. She can skin animals, gut 'em and cook 'em."
"She's a mini Daryl, is what he is trying to say," Alicia says. Clementine smiles and nods.
"I'll come," Clementine says.
"We need some people from the Sanctuary," Kenny says to Reilly.
"You two wanna go?" Reilly asks Norris and DJ.
"Sure," DJ says.
"Three more people," Jesus says.
"We're in," Alden says as he looks at Luciana, who nods.
"I'll come too," Cole says.
"Okay, we leave tomorrow morning. Get everything you'll need. We'll be on foot, so pack light, weapons, ammo, and send some food and water. Each community should send a bag of supplies that will last us. Until we get there," Jesus says. "Send it with one of your people," They all nod.
"Where do we meet?" Carl asks.
"Hilltop," Beth says.
"Wait wait, I'm not allowed to step foot in Hilltop," Negan says.
"We made an exception when she came here for the wedding. We'll only be there for an hour. It will be fine," Rick says.
"Well, let's get ready, kids. Uncle Negan is taking you on a road trip," Negan says with a smile as they leave the cabin.
Hearing this, Rick froze, staring after him then looked at Carl "Never call him that."
"I don't intend to."
"Well," Charlie tapped her chin.
"Charlie.=," Daryl said warningly.
"Kidding kidding!"
Al's P.O.V
Al walked into her and Maggie's room after she got back and saw Maggie lying in bed with Hershel, stroking his hair as he slept "How'd it go?" Maggie asks her softly.
"Good, we got a group of twenty going to this place. I'm one of them, Maggie," Al tells her. Maggie stands up slowly, making sure not to wake her sleeping son. She motions for Al to follow her out onto the balcony and shuts the door.
"How long?" Maggie asks.
"We don't know. Depending on their reaction and other problems, it could take anywhere from a week to a month," Al tells her as she leans against the railing. "Since I've come to Hilltop, I've been so focused on you and Hershel that I forgot the real reason I came here. I came here for a story, to find some hope in a world with barely any left. I found that hope and stories, but I've become a babysitter recently. I love you and Hershel, but I need to go out there and chase a story, and this looks like a pretty damn good one," Al says. "I know you're worried, but I survived on my own for a long time, and I'll have 19 people covering me."
"Okay," Maggie says. "We should probably move Hershel."
"Why?" Al asks.
"Because if you're about to leave for a few weeks, you're going to be mine tonight," Maggie says, grabbing her hand.
Al nods with a smile.
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl sat on his porch that night, looking at the stars. "You play the role perfectly," Negan says as he steps on the porch.
"What role?" Daryl asks him, not looking at him.
"The worried, brooding father," Negan says as he sits down beside him. "Having trouble sleeping?"
"Yeah, you?" Daryl asks him.
"I don't sleep much before runs. Sometimes I just walk around and think." Negan says. "You know your girl is one tough son of a bitch,"
"She's going into unknown territory. You guys don't know what you'll run into. We've never been there," Daryl says.
"I know we have had our issues in the past, but I like to think you trust me by now," Negan says.
"Issues." Daryl just said flatly.
"OK fine alot of vicious bloody history but I like to think I developed in you some measure of trust. Right?"
Daryl stared at him then looked away...not confirming that, but not denying that either.
"Daryl...if you have Some form of trust in me, then trust me when I say this if anything happens to that girl, it will happen to me first, and you know damn well that goes the same for Daniel. Me and him will die before we let anything happen to her," Negan tells him. "I promise."
Daryl nods. "I'm trusting you with my daughter's life," Daryl tells him. "Don't make me regret it."
"I won't," Negan says. Daryl nods as he stands up and walks inside of the house. Negan soon leaves for his own cabin as well.
"Negan."
Stopping in place, he turned to see Daryl at the door.
"...Your right. We do have alot of damn history. And only damn reason I let you stay here at first was cause Carl trusted you."
Negan remained silent.
"What I'm saying is...if anything happens to her, you'll wish you had died under that tree. Got it?"
Crossing his head, Negan just grinned "Crystal. See we are making progress."
Grunting, Daryl just said "Good night." Soon walking inside.
Thanks for reading. The next chapter will have a few more scenes between some of the characters before they leave. There are exactly twenty people going onto this run. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.