Chapter 85- Casualties of War

Daniel's P.O.V

Daniel sat on the porch of the house he was staying in with Cole, Strand, and Tripp. He looks at Strand as he walks out of the house. "I see you are already awake, Daniel." Strand says as he sits down beside him.

"I am thinking, Victor," Daniel says grudgingly. "I hope that you're going through with our plan."

"I have no doubts. You only care to keep her brother alive. Me, I could care less if he is to die as long as Cole, Alicia, Merle, Ofelia, Madison, and Nick are safe," Strand says.

"That is why I asked you, Victor. You will not lose sleep over the results."

"If he does die, are you prepared to deal with the consequences?" Strand asks.

"I am," Daniel says. "I care for the same things you do, Victor. My list is longer than yours, but Alicia and her children are my daughter's legacy. Ofelia got bit saving Alicia. I will keep them safe. If Althea wants to complain about it let her."

Victor raises a brow "Somewhat cold."

Daniel snorted "It is, but we're at war right now and they came at us first. I'd rather have Al hate me and alive than have her care and be dead."

"Glad we agree, Daniel," Strand says as he walks towards the door. "We make a good team," Strand says before stepping inside, Daniel giving him a disgruntled look but sighing and looking back to the gates.

Beth's P.O.V

Beth climbed out of the truck and looked at Hilltop. The gate was closed, but nobody was on watch, and there was no light coming from in. "Nobody is here," Elijah says.

"I need a radio," Beth says as she goes to the back of the truck and grabs her radio out of her bag. "Maggie? Daryl? Anybody there?"

It was silent for a few moments then a relieved voice came in. "We're here, Beth," Maggie says. "Where are you?"

"Hilltop? What happened?" Beth asks her sister as she looks at the community, just noticing the ruined walls with concerned eyes.

"They had RPGs. We pushed them back, but we are at Alexandria right now. Did you guys get people and supplies from Georgie?" Maggie asks.

"Yeah, we did," Beth says. "We'll be at Alexandria as soon as we can."

She turned and barked out orders, the vehicles gearing up once more.

Shane's P.O.V

Shane walks into Jesse's cell and slides a tray under the cell door. Jesse looks at him already turning to leave. "So, how'd you do it?" Shane paused and looked at the prisoner with questioning eyes. "How'd you turn my sister against me? Make her think you are good people?"

Pausing at that...Shane then barked out a laugh that surprised Jesse. "Man I didn't do anything. Al saved me. I'm alive because of her. I found my wife because of her. I found my kids because of her. I found a family and home because of Al." Shane says as he grabs the cell bars. "She found a woman she loves, a son, a family, a home. Al helped bring us all together. Al, John, Daryl, and Morgan are why we are here. We've all fought like hell, and your people will die trying to destroy what we've built. Hopefully, you choose the right side," Shane turned to the door again.

"How'd she save you?" Jesse asks as Shane grabs the door handle.

"Our home was attacked, burnt to the ground, one of them saw me fleeing, and they shot me. I got trapped in a car, surrounded by walkers," Shane says as he turns to look at him. "Al saw them. She could have driven by, let the walkers have me. But she didn't. She killed the walkers and patched me up. All she wanted was my story."

"Your story?" Jesse's lips tightened at that idea.

"Before we came here and even after. Al would film, and she would ask for our stories. Our lives after the turn."

"Why?"

"She once told me, when we're gone. Our stories will be will be all that's left. She believes the truth matters. I admit, I thought she was an idiot, but I was wrong. She's one of the smartest people I've ever known," Shane tells him. "We've done what we've had to so we could survive. Some of us are ashamed of what we've had to do. None of us are perfect. We're all just trying to do better, building a life for each other. We're offering you a life with your sister. Most people would kill you. I would take the deal," Shane says before leaving the room.

Negan's P.O.V

Negan stood on watch. He turned his head when he heard someone climbing up the ladder, knowing it was his relief. He felt his body tense when he saw Maggie climbing up the ladder. "I've got watch," She tells him. Negan just nods as he walks toward the ladder, trying to keep this short and civil.

"When did you do it?"

Pausing for a moment as he got there, he turned to her "Uh, I did a lot of things-"

"Can you not be an asshole for 30 seconds? The bat."

Blinking...Negan said shrugging "s=Shortly after Rick got taken back to Alexandria after the Horde and Bridge disaster."

He saw that Maggie's face seemed to flicker with guilt, but her face hardened at him "You think that makes up for what you did?"

"No, Maggie, I don't." Negan says as he turns to face her. "I didn't do it for forgiveness. Not from you, Rosita, Rick, Daryl, or anybody. I did it for me. For my wife, for Laura's father. So I could become the man they wanted me to be. I've said my piece to you, Maggie. I'm done being worried that one day you'll try something. We are part of each other's life. Whether we like it or not, we want to protect the same people." Negan says as he sees Daryl motion him over. "Have fun." He says before he climbs down the ladder.

Negan walked over to Daryl. "Everything okay?" Daryl asks him as they start to walk.

"Just peachy, boss," Negan says with a smirk. "What's up?"

"Need your help moving some of the guns," Daryl tells Negan, who nods as he follows.

June's P.O.V

June walked into the cell and looked at Jesse. "Stand against the wall. I have to change your dressing," June tells Jesse, who stands up and presses his back against the wall. June opens the cell and looks at him. "You going to try anything?"

"Why would I? I get outside, and they'll shoot me." Jesse rolled his eyes as he sits back down, pulling his shirt off and setting it down. June bends down and opens her bag. Neither of them says anything, as she dressed the wound and the only noise in the cell is the sound of them breathing. After June puts her supplies away and stands up.

"That should be fine for the next few days," June says.

"Thanks." Jesse says as June turns around walking towards the door. Jesse stood up and tackled June into the bars. He grabbed her by the back of her head and slammed her head against the metal. He felt her body go limp and then slowly laid her on the ground. Her head was bleeding, but June was still breathing. "I'm sorry. You saved my life. That's why I didn't kill you," Jesse stands up and takes June's gun and knife. "You're a good person, June. I wished you would have found Richmond first," Jesse says as he leaves the cell.

Jesse's P.O.V

Jesse goes to the side of the stairs and looks around. He sees two men walking around, heading to what looked like a large gate.

"Beth is back. They need everybody by the gate to help unload supplies," one of them he heard says as they move towards the gate. Jesse was about to move when he heard more footsteps. "June?" A woman said. "June?"

Jesse pulls out his knife as they come down the stairs. He pushes the woman up against the wall and stabs the knife into her chest. He hears her gasp as he pulls it out and stabs her in the chest again. He lets her slump to the ground and runs up the stairs and behind the house. He gets to the wall as a gunshot goes up, and he starts to climb.

Alden's P.O.V

Alden stops when the gunshot goes off. He quickly drops the box he was carrying and runs towards the area of the gunshot, realizing it came from the cell. He gets to the stairs and sees Daryl and Carl. "Alden, wait." Daryl tried to stop as others start to get to the cell. Alden pushes past Daryl and stops, heart sinking in his chest as the tears came up.

"Lucy?" Alden says as he goes down the stairs and grabs her. "Lucy?" Blood leaked on Alden's hands as he held Luciana. "Luciana, please, Lucy!" Someone ran past Alden and into the cell as Alden moved Luciana's hair out of her face. Tears fall down Alden's face as he presses his forehead against Luciana's. He slowly slipped his knife out of his holster and stabbed her in the back of her head. Alden's sobs could be heard as John came out holding June, screaming for help.

Nick's P.O.V

Nick sat in the church staring at the floor. "Nick?" Nick turns and looks at Madison as she shuts the door.

"She was my best friend, Mom." Nick says as tears go down his face. "I loved her." Nick says. Madison walks over to her son and sits down beside him as she hugs him.

"I know, sweetie," Madison says. "He'll die for this, I swear to you, he will die, and I'll go through Maggie and Al if I have to," Madison says. "Luciana was family. He will die for what he has done."

"We should have killed him before." Nick said, knowing it was only cause he was Al's brother they spared him.

"We won't make that mistake again." Madison promised.

Daryl's P.O.V

Daryl walked down the stairs and bent down by Alden as he held Luciana's body. "I'm sorry."

"She was...she was pregnant," Alden says, Daryl's head shooting up in horror at the news. "We found the night before. I tried so hard to get her to go home, but she wouldn't go home."

"Alden..." Daryl started to say

"He dies." He then said icily.

"Yeah, yeah, he dies," Daryl muttered.

"And if Al tries to stop us?" Alden asks as he looks at him, His eyes were red and puffy but also full of fire and rage. "If Maggie tries to stop us?"

"Then we'll put them in a cell till it's done. He killed one of ours, we're not gonna just let this go. We gave him a chance and he lost it." Daryl says darkly.

"We need to bury her," Alden says.

"Alicia and Dorie are getting a truck. We're gonna take her home, bury her there."

After a moment...Alden looked back up muttering.

"June?"

"Alive. She got a bad head injury but she'll live."

Alden nods as he runs his hand through Luciana's hair. "Daryl, thanks for checking on me."

Daryl nods as he pats his shoulder. "We're family. We help each other. You need anything you find me. We'll bury her tomorrow."

Alden nods as Daryl goes up the stairs.

Al's P.O.V

Al through a gun in her bag and looked at Maggie as she walked into their room, back from watch, eyes wide at the sight. "What are you doing?" Maggie asks her.

"I have to find him, Maggie."

"What? He killed Luciana, Al." Maggie says.

"I know!" Al shouts as she turns to look at Maggie. "I know he killed Luciana! But what am I supposed to do? He's my brother, Maggie! I can't bring him here. But he needs to run."

"They won't let you leave." Maggie warned, gesturing outside.

"Which is why I'll leave during the night." She then paused and ran a hand through her hair "I don't know what to do, Maggie."

"I know you want to save him. He's your brother, but if you can't. Don't let him kill you," Maggie asked.

"I won't," Althea nodded and turned back to her bag packing.

John's P.O.V

John looked at Alden as he walked into the infirmary. "I'm sorry about Lucy. She was a good woman and friend," John says as he turns to look at June.

"Have long did you know her, John?" Alden asked then.

"Almost five years," John answers.

"What did they say about June?"

"She has a concussion. Could have some brain damage," John says.

"He deserves to pay John," Alden says through gritted teeth. John looks at him and stands.

"What do you suggest we do, Alden?"

"I say we go on a hunt tonight. He's still injured, John. He can't get far by himself. You track him, and we kill him."

"I guess we are going on a hunt tonight." John nodded, then blinked.

"Dammit, someone also go check on Al."

Thanks for reading. So, I mean, I needed a way to prove what kind of person Jesse is. He is loyal to Richmond no matter what. I felt like this was a good point to kill Luciana. I think it will add a lot more to other characters and have consequences also if you add these chapters and One choice's chapter. This series has a hundred chapters. So I felt like it was appropriate to kill one of the day one characters. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.