Chapter 94-Leaving for Richmond
The next day
Carl's P.O.V
Shane, John, Carl, Clementine, Ezekiel, Carol, Rachel, Enid, Maggie, Al, Reilly, Arat, Aaron, Alden, Negan, Tara, Beth, Jesus, David, and Javier stood or sat inside the church, listening in carefully "With Badger and his army being dead, there is nothing stopping us from taking Richmond." Carl says.
"Joan would have sent the entire army to take care of the communities. That means Richmond will not have the means to stop us, guards on the walls and about two or three dozen inside, and everybody else won't even know how to use a gun." David says with a scowl...clearly unhappy with so many of his old troops dead, but at least not causing a scene.
"How many families?" Enid asked.
"About a few dozen, just as many children," David answered.
"We don't need to kill those people. We want Joan and only Joan. Once she is dead, this ends, and we can convince Paul and Clinton that this doesn't need to continue." Jesus says.
David sighed in some relief "good. Like I said, just send me in there and I can convince them to get rid of Joan and this ends."
"What about the prick we have in the shed?" Negan asks, thumbing over his shoulder. "We leave him alive?"
"Max has been cooperative with us," Shane answered. "We could try and give him a second chance, keep a close eye on him and then go from there."
"We'll worry about Max after Joan is dead, we can even use him as another witness along with David to convince the New Frontier soldiers there fighting on the wrong side," Carol says. "What's the plan here?"
"We'll try and do this peacefully first, send in David and Max to convince them to stop. If that doesn't work, We'll destroy the gate and go on. Tripp and Conrad are working on a truck that will protect them from gunfire, which they can use to get through the fence." Not needing to add that the two were more than eager after what happened in Prescott. "Then we'll spread out and send groups in different ways. David knows a few ways in which we can use. We can use the sewers as well," John says. "We'll leave tomorrow morning, and we won't go until dark. We want them to be caught off guard."
Aaron raised a hand "You sure about this? I mean you said it yourself, the majority of their army is dead, and they are not a threat anymore."
David snorted "Joan's persistent, trust me. Not today, or even this month, but sooner or later she'll regroup and come back. This has to be done."
"John, Shane, Ezekiel, David, Maggie, and I will go first with a few others to make sure we aren't shot to try and talk peace, and if that doesn't work, we'll attack." Carl says, his face tight at the idea of potentially more killing, but had to press on. "As John said, we leave tomorrow, so everybody gets what you need and rest for the day. That's all for the day."
John's P.O.V
John was walking through Alexandria when he saw Ezekiel and Tara talking with Tripp and Conrad, both former Presscot members looking enraged. Eleanor, Ezekiel, and Tara there as well, trying to calm the two men down. John grimaced, realizing they most likely were told about the plan to talk to Joan and the other NF members first before the attack and needless to say they were pissed.
"They killed an entire community of people! We should burn that fucking place to the ground as they did to Prescott!" Tripp roared, his burly frame shaking with outrage at the idea of making a deal with the people who burnt his community.
"We aren't doing that," Ezekiel says lowly as John walks up to them. "Richmond has good and innocent people in it."
"So did Prescott!" Conrad growls. "My girlfriend was there. People that I trusted!" Conrad says as he sees John. "You know I'm right!" He says, making Ezekiel and Tara look at the gunslinger. "They almost killed your girlfriend, right? The brother of one of your best friends did that. What do you think the rest of those savages will do? They almost killed your best friend's wife. Took her away from her children. The only way to protect the people we love is to kill those savages!"
John stays silent for a moment before he speaks. "I want to. I want to kill those people because it would promise that my friends and family would be safe, that June would be safe. But I won't, and I won't allow you to. We're meant to rebuild the world. We need to be better than our enemies," John says. "If you two can't keep your heads on straight, you can stay here, and we'll have someone drive that truck."
The two men stay silent and nod, faces drawn...clearly not happy with it but deciding this was better then nothing. "We got it, John," Tripp says with a tight scowl...much to Eleanor's clear relief.
"You better know what your doing," Conrad added, taking a breath.
"Good, and we do, now get that done. It needs to be done before tomorrow morning," John says before he walks away.
Kate's P.O.V
Kate walks up to Javier as he cleans his gun. "David or Gabe here?" Kate asks Javier, who shakes his head.
"No, but David is letting him come." Javier tells Kate, who nods with a sigh and a frown, sitting next to him with a hand over her face.
"You should talk to him, Javi. He won't listen to me. He tried to take Gabe to leave yesterday, but Negan stopped him."
Hearing that, her brother in law looked at her wide eyed, but down in worry, shaking his head "He won't listen to me either, Kate. David doesn't listen to anybody."
"That's his problem." Kate says, scoffing in disdain. "God, I can't believe I ever married him."
"You're still married to him, Kate. When this is over you two should figure things out...at least for Gabe's sake," Javier tells Kate, who stays silent.
"I don't have any love for him anymore, Javier, that died when I thought he was dead" Kate says. "I have feelings for you, not David."
At this, Javier looked at her sadly "Kate-"
Grabbing his hand, she said "Javi, we've been practically together in that van for Years now...don't you want to give this a chance? Look I know David being back makes this...complicated...but I want to make this work. Whatever happens tomorrow...I want to give this a chance."
Javier stays silent for a moment. He sets his gun down and looks Kate in the eyes, taking his hand away "I'm sorry, Kate. Your my friend, hell my best friend even, but I don't see you as anything more then that. Even if I did. I could never do that to David."
For a moment, Kate just stared at him, then just closed her eyes and just walked off without a word, rubbing her eyes...Javier staring after her and sighing, rubbing his own eyes.
Carl's P.O.V
Carl sat on the bench by the lake. He looked at Carol as she walked up to the bench and sat down next to him. "This is going to end in a blood bath, isn't it?" Carl asks Carol after a moment, who looks at him, eyes concerned. "Joan won't give up, will she?"
"Probably not," Carol answers honestly. "But at least you're trying, Carl. Not many people would. They would go in, kill them and not care who got in their way."
"I know." Carl says with a sigh. "She makes me think of the Governor and what he did to his people. She knew she was going to be sending a lot of those people to their deaths when she sent Badger and his army after us, and she didn't care. Neither did he, and in the end, he killed them all. More people are going to die because of her, and she won't care. She'll do whatever it takes to survive." Carl says as he stares at the water.
Carol looked at him and put a hand on his shoulder, in a motherly tone "Carl, the fact is that there will always be people like that. And if another person like that shows up, we'll kill them, just like the Governor, and we will kill Joan."
"I know. I wish innocent people didn't have to die because of it." Carl muttered, his heart heavy at leading a full on potential attack on a Community.
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl sat on the porch of the infirmary sharpening his knife. He looks up at Merle as he walks up to him. He sets his knife down and looks at his son, who was looking up at him wide eyed and innocent. "Is Mommy going to die?" Merle asks softly.
"No." Daryl tells him as he grabs his son and sets him on his leg. "You see, your Mom is one tough son of a bitch."
"That's a bad word." Merle chirped with a stern look, making Daryl smile.
"Yeah, it is. Don't worry about your Mom. She's gonna be fine. You like the Dog?"
"Yeah. Can we keep it?" Merle beamed with excitement.
"Maybe Leah will come here, and the dog can stay here with us." Daryl answered vaguely. "Go and play, and don't worry about your Mom. I'll get you when she wakes up." Merle nods as he goes back over to the other kids. Daryl watches the kids as Rick walks up to him, looking at him knowingly. "I can't lose her, Rick. They can't either."
"Lilly said she'd be okay." Rick said reasonably
"That could change. You know that these kinds of wounds are unpredictable."
Rick looked down at Daryl as he sits down beside him and lays his hand on his shoulder. "When you came back for Luciana's funeral, she didn't want to leave. She was worried something like this would happen, but she did it anyways because she loves you, and she wanted to stand by you. She loves these kids just as much. She's going fight this Daryl, and she's going survive.
"I'm gonna go sit with her. Can you watch them?" Rick nods as Daryl stands up and walks into the infirmary.
Daniel's P.O.V
Daniel stood by Rachel on watch. He looked at the girl who was staring at the road. "Can I ask you a question?" Daniel asks Rachel, who nods as she looks at the man emotionless. "How did you join Oceanside?"
For a long period, he wondered if she would answer, but then she stared, looking back over the road. "I was with my Mom, and we got attacked by a group of walkers. She got bit, but she got me in a cabin, and we were safe, but the walkers were still outside. She was turning, and she knew it. She kept telling me that it was going to be okay, and she died a few hours later."
She paused as she gulped and looked down "I stabbed her in the head, and I waited...soon I pulled out my gun and put it up to my head." Rachel pauses for a moment. "I was about to pull the trigger when I heard a gunshot outside, and a couple of seconds later, Cyndie opened the door. She saved my life, took me in, and taught me to survive. I loved her. I still love her. Is that wrong?" She soon looked up at him, eyes watery.
"No," Daniel says reassuringly. "She did stupid things, but it is not wrong."
Rachel nods as the two of them fall into a comfortable silence.
Carl's P.O.V
Carl walked outside his house and towards the gate where everybody was waiting. "We'll take the cars until we get to the edge of town and then leave them. Conrad and Tripp will wait for our signal to bring the truck in." Jesus tells John and Shane as Carl walks up to them. The two of them nod as they walk toward the car they are driving. Jesus looks at Carl as he walks up to him. "You ready to end this?"
"Yeah, I think we all are," Carl tells Jesus, who nods. Jesus leads Carl to their car. They climb in and leave Alexandria with the rest of their army behind them.
Thanks for reading. So over the last few months, I have been uploading every Tuesday and Friday, and I will continue to try and do that, but I have been busy and have less time to write. So I will always do my best to upload two times a week, but I'm not promising it will be on Tuesday and Friday every time. If not, those days then the day after for sure. Next chapter, we will get to the talk and the start of the fight. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.