Chapter 97-Ending the war
John's P.O.V
John raised the RPG and shot it into a large crowd of walkers gathered by the burning truck, where another large explosion was seen, the cowboy ducking from the explosion. Setting it down, he withdrew his revolvers as he shot two walkers in the head. He could hear gunfire coming from the apartment buildings as his group continued using the weapons from the trucks to kill the walkers.
John could see that the herd was starting to thin as he shot a few more walkers. He reloaded his revolver as Beth covered him, grinning and realizing that this plan was actually working.
Carl's P.O.V
Carl shot from the rooftop, hitting walkers with his rifle. "Start sending people onto the streets to clear the walkers," Carl tells Shane, who nods. Carl throws his rifle around his back as he follows Shane down the stairs and to the apartment building door. Shane pulled the door open, and Carl shot several of the gathered walkers through the heads as everybody started to filter out of the apartment buildings to clear the streets, starting to thin out after the last hour or so of fighting and shooting.
After ten minutes, Carl realized that the walkers were truly starting to scatter and being taken out quickly. The streets were literally overfilling with the dead, not able to be seen, but thankfully very few fresh ones, the evacuation having happened at a smooth enough pace to prevent losses
"Carl," Shane says as he goes up to him. "Go find Negan. There's not that many left, we can finish up," Shane tells Carl, who nods as he leaves running out the gate and heading to the woods.
He looked around the woods, trying to use what few tracking techniques he learned from Daryl and along with the occasional dead body "Negan!" Carl shouts. After a moment, he grimaced, and he shouts again. "Negan!"
"I'm over here, kid!"
Carl quickly runs in the direction of Negan's voice and finds him slumped up against a tree, with several other dead corpses, in a small clearing. Staring at this, Carl held back his relief for the moment and said "Well you injured and under a tree, seems familiar."
"HA, yeah it is kiddo, just taking a nap here. My old age is getting to me!" Negan says with a small smirk. Carl goes up to him and hugs him, and Negan wraps his arms around him. After a moment, Carl pulls back and hits him in the shoulder, causing him to yell.
"OW! I'm fucking injured dammit!"
"That was stupid," Carl tells him.
"It worked, didn't it?" Negan defended, who has a slight smile on his face.
"I'm not going to give you any shit. Cause when I told the others, Laura said she was going to tear you a new one when we get back to Richmond," Carl tells Negan, who slightly pales.
"On second thought, why don't you just leave me out here? I quite like the woods!" Negan says as Carl helps him up and gives him his Mace to help him walk. "How is Richmond looking?"
"Besides the burning truck and dead bodies? Most of the walkers were dead when I left." Carl says as he helps Negan walk. "We'll have Paul look at your leg when we get you back."
Negan mumbled "Now I get to join your Dad in the cripple club."
"Your right, you are grumpy in old age."
"Screw you too kiddo."
David's P.O.V
Javier walked up the stairs to the apartment buildings and looked at David, who was standing by the ledge watching Richmond. David was pale, and there was sweat going down his head. "Are Gabe and Kate okay?" David asks Javier, still looking out, who nods as he walks up to his brother and stops.
"They're okay. We won, David. Everybody's going to be okay." Javier reassures his brother, who nods as he withdraws his gun, causing him to stop "Wait, David."
"Javi, don't," David interrupts his brother before he can say anything else. "I don't want them to see me like this. I just wanted to look at it one more time, see what I helped create." David looks at his brother, clear regret on his face. "And I know you and Gabe will make it better. Both of you are far better men then I could be. Hell you were a better father to Marianna and Gabe then I was. You'll turn Richmond into what it was meant to be, what I wanted it to be."
"David...I love you hermano," Javier says after a pause as tears start falling down his face. David hugs his brother.
"I love you too, Javi, now no more tears. You have alot of damn work ahead of you." David says. "Take care of them," Javier nods as he lets David go, looking at him a moment more, then bowed his head and walks towards the door to the roof.
David looks over the edge of the roof again, remembering his father, his mother, their uncle, his Marianna, then looked down to see Gabe talking with Kate. He smiled, knowing that his family would be okay as he raised the gun to his head. He closed his eyes and remembered the day his children were born.
And he pulled the trigger.
Javier's P.O.V
Javier let out a sob as he heard the gunshot, His back sliding the door, realizing he failed to keep his promise to his father that him and David would always take care of each other. He screamed as he hit his hand against the door and lowered his head, pausing as he looked up as he heard footsteps and saw Gabe running up the stairs with Kate, Madison, and Clinton. They look at Javier, who shakes his head, Gabe tearing up and hugs Kate as she leads him away from the staircase.
Madison walks up to Javier and lays her hand on his shoulder. "Go with Clinton. We'll dig him a grave," Madison tells Javier softly, nodding as he stands up and leaves with Clinton. Madison follows to get someone to grab David's body.
Negan's P.O.V
Negan sat in the infirmary as Paul looked at his leg, the Doctor bandaging it. "Sorry about David. I know you two were friends," Negan says, making Paul look at him.
"He was. Half the people in the New Frontier would have been dead if it wasn't for him. But if you don't mind me asking, it doesn't sound like you were his biggest fan," Paul says as he goes to the medicine cabinet.
"We didn't get along very well." Negan tells him. "I thought he was a reckless hothead jackass...but he was trying to protect his son. I get it. I would do anything to protect my family too."
Paul nods as he grabs a bottle of painkillers out of the cabinet, walks over to Negan soon, and hands it to him. "You're ankle is sprained. I'm going to wrap it, and you need to rest so you don't make it worse. Take these if the pain gets too bad." Paul tells Negan, who nods as he wraps his ankle.
"Thank god, don't want to hobble forever," Negan sighed in relief.
"I'll go and get you some crutches," Paul goes to the door and opens it, but freeze to see an iratted-looking blonde woman standing there, Paul realizing this was Laura that they were talking about earlier.
"Um...I'll leave you two to it," The Doctor stepped out as Laura stormed inside, glaring at Negan, who just smiles weakly at her.
"Don't smile at me. What the fuck were you thinking?!" She shouts at him. "You could have died!"
"I didn't, I wasn't planning too," Negan defended.
Stopping, she took a calming breath and looked at him sternly "Look it worked yes. But it was also fucking stupid...you don't..." she paused and said more quiet "You don't need to keep thinking you have something to prove. To the others out there. Like it or not, you've done far more then enough. We both have."
Looking at her, Negan bit his lip and looked down "Alright don't get all sappy on me, I get it."
Chuckling for a a moment, she walks up to Negan and hugs him. "You are an asshole."
"I know," Negan says as he hugs her.
Kate's P.O.V
Kate stood in front of David's grave with Javier. Gabe had left after a little bit, leaving Kate and Javier. Kate pulls off her wedding ring, sets it on the grave, and then stands back up.
"Are you staying here?" Javier asks her. Kate looks at him for a moment, then around Richmond seemingly considering it...but when she looked around all she could see was the place David built.
Even with his death, there were still alot of fights and bitter feelings that made her feel twisted inside.
"No," She says after a moment, seeing Javi's face fall in disappointment.
"Kate." Javier took a step "Look if your still upset with me I'm sor-"
"Javier it's alright," Kate said gently "That's not why. I know why you and Gabe need to stay here, for David. But I can't. I want to build a life, Javi, and I don't think I'll be able to do it here." She looked around "I just...being here will remind me of him so much and...I can't just have that."
"I'll still come and see Gabe, but I'm going to go to the campgrounds. Look at the other communities," Kate reassured Javier, who nods. "Are you going to be okay?"
"I will be."
Kate smiled lightly and hugged him, causing him to hug her back, clearly relieved they were still ok.
Carl's P.O.V
Carl, John, and Jesus sat in the church with Clinton, Paul, and Javier. "We will be returning to our communities tomorrow." Carl tells them. "We will send over supplies for you to start to repair your walls as well as people to help you," Carl tells the three of them. "After Richmond is repaired, the three of you will come to Alexandria and sign your names on the same treaty we have. You'll join our group, from there, we will set up trading routes."
"You're not the leader of the alliance, are you?" Clinton asks Carl, who shakes his head.
"No, that's Daryl. He's the man with the crossbow and is one of the leaders of the campgrounds. His wife is the woman that got hurt in the fight in the woods." Jesus tells them.
"I have to ask, will he protest to us joining?" Paul asks them.
"No, Daryl knows that Joan was the problem. Her and Badger, and their both dead now. All of the leaders have agreed to let Richmond join," Carl reassures the men. "With that being said, your men did a lot of damage to the Hilltop Colony. We help you repair Richmond, and you help us repair Hilltop."
"That's fair," Clinton agreeded as he looks at the other two men who nod.
"If you want, we can also get you in contact with Georgie. She is another trading partner we have. Talk to Elijah before we leave if you want to talk with Georgie," Carl explains to them.
"Also, if any of your people wish to come to any of the other communities, they are welcomed. You said that Kate is coming back with us, right?" John asks Javier, who nods. "Same for anybody in our communities that want to see what Richmond has to offer."
"Is there anything else that we need to talk about?" Paul asks the three men, who shake their heads. "Okay, then let's go clean those bodies up."
The rest nodded and stood, ready for an hard work day.
Clementine's P.O.V
Clementine walked up to Gabe as he sat on the steps of one of the apartment buildings holding David's dog tags. He looks at her, blinking back tears. "What happened to your parents?" He asks her.
"They died. I don't know how. I found them as walkers in Savannah." Clementine tells him as she sits down beside him. "A man named Lee took care of me. Showed me how to shoot a gun, how to survive."
"I know my Dad made mistakes. Hell, he made some pretty stupid decisions, but-" Gabe trails off as he stares at the dog tags.
"He was your father, and you will love him regardless of what he did," Clementine says to Gabe, who nods. "Your Dad was an ass," Clementine tells Gabe, who chuckles, conceding that his father was very difficult to get along with. "But he loved you and his people. And I respect him for that."
"We should go help," Gabe says as he puts the dog tags on his neck. Clementine nods as they stand up and walk toward the others.
Carl's P.O.V
The next day
Walking up to his car, Carl looks at Clinton. "I'm glad everything worked out."
"Oh trust me so am I," Clinton says in relief as he holds his hand out to Carl, who shakes it. "You're one tough son of a bitch, Carl Grimes. Thank you for not giving up on us."
Carl nods as he climbs in the car, and they leave, heading back to their communities.
Thanks for reading. The war with Richmond is officially over, but there is still a lot to be done with Richmond, and I have a decent amount of chapters planned before we get into the Whisper war. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.