Chapter 116-Preparations
Ezekiel's P.O.V
The caravan pulled into the Kingdom and started to get out of their cars as the people of the Kingdom gathered. Ezekiel looked at Daryl, who nodded as Ezekiel climbed into the bed of the truck. "I know you have questions. They will be answered. Today is a sad day for the New World. Today we have lost many sisters. Today, Oceanside fell to the dead."
The crowd starts muttering, looking at each other at this news.
"My friends, please!" He held a hand up and the group immediately fell to silence. "Our sister Kathy is the only one who lives, and she has told us disturbing news. There is a herd of walkers out there, possibly bigger than the one that our brother Rick destroyed when they were coming for us. That is why our brothers and sisters from the Campground are here. They are here for Sanctuary from this threat, and as I wish that was the worse news you had to hear today, it does not get better. There were things in that herd that were different than regular walkers, they spoke and used weapons, and they lead this herd, and they are coming for all of us." Ezekiel says as he stares at his people, who look at him with fear in their eyes and he smiles at them all reassuringly.
"Yet I smile because we have fought and fought, and we have not lost. We beat the Saviors, the True Saviors, Richmond, and the Rippers. We beat them all because we stood together as brothers and sisters in arms. We stood together as a family. So as times may look dark right now, I smile because I know this is not the end of us, of the New World. The new world will not fall on this day or tomorrow. It will never fall. We will never fall," Ezekiel says with a grin as he holds his hand out to Daryl, who takes it and climbs into the bed. "We once stood as brothers in arms against men who now fight with us. I ask once again that you stand with me as my brother, Daryl!" Daryl smiles and nods. "Yet Daryl smiles because he knows the same as I do. We will not lose this fight. We will go on. That is why we smile today! Because we will not lose! We will not lose what we have built! We will live and beat whatever threat comes our way!"
The people of the Kingdom cheer in rapture as Ezekiel looks at Daryl nodding who then said out loud. "We need to get ready, everybody needs to get ready. We need at least ten people on watch and patrolling at all times for this herd. Nobody leaves alone. We got work to do. Let's get to it!" Daryl says to everybody, who nods as they start to work.
But he stopped in his tracks as Daryl paused and looked at him "Zeke?"
Daryl saw where his eyes fell and saw Negan, his back to them, helping Kate up.
"There a problem?" He turned to see Daryl staring at him, his eyes stern.
"...No. No problem at all."
Carl's P.O.V
Carl, Rick, Gabriel, Michonne, Eugene, Aaron, and Jesus stood inside of the church staring at the group in front of them. "We don't have time for this." Aaron hisses.
"We have to deal with it, we'll lock down after we talk to them." Carl tells him as he stands up. "As I'm said in the woods, I'm Carl Grimes. I'm the leader of Alexandria."
"You look young enough to be my little brother." The woman in front says with a good deal of skepticism.
"Probably right," Carl says with a smirk. "But I am the leader here. This is my Dad, Rick Grimes. He leads the Alliance with my Uncle Daryl. This is my Mom, Michonne Grimes. This is my friend Gabriel Stokes. He's a member of the council here. Eugene Porter he's a member of our council and the local smart guy, and this is Aaron and his husband Paul Rovia, just call him Jesus."
Said Jesus just waved with a cheeky smirk.
"They are also members of the council here. We will decide if you will stay."
"How?" The man of them asked warily, looking around at the place with some awe.
"Your names first," Rick says.
"I'm Magna. This is Connie, Kelly, Luke, and Yumiko." The woman in front soon says. "Connie's deaf."
"What did you do before?" Gabriel asks writing into a small notebook to keep track.
"Does it matter?" Magna asks.
"It does, just some standard questions that's all." Aaron reassured the clearly anxious woman.
"I was a lawyer." Yumiko says.
"I was a truck stop waitress." Magna says.
"Show us the tattoo on your left arm." Michonne says, making Magna look at her. "Please."
Magna closed her eyes and as she shows the tattoo. "I was in prison. I killed the man who raped my cousin."
"Alright thank you." Rick says, causing Magna to look surprised at the lackluster response. "We've all done things before and after. We only care about who you are now, don't lie to us. It won't do you any good." Magna nods as he pulls a knife off her belt and shows it to them. "Put it back. We only wanted your guns. You can keep your knives."
Magna nods as she puts it away. "What about the rest of you?" Carl asks.
"I was a music teacher." Luke says with a smile "Also a pretty mean chef myself."
"Connie was a journalist, and I was a high school student," Kelly explained, the whole time signing for her sister, who just nodded and waved at the council with a polite yet slightly cautious smile.
"You said Alliance. Are there more of you?" Yumiko asks.
"Yes, there are five communities right now. One was destroyed earlier today by a herd, and the group at another left their home until we could deal with the herd. The communities are, Hilltop, Alexandria, The Kingdom, Richmond, and The Sanctuary. The campgrounds are as well, but nobody is there right now, but they'll be back soon. Any other questions?"
"You said someone else led the Alliance, your Uncle Daryl. Where is he?" Luke asks.
"He is the leader of the Campgrounds. He is in the Kingdom right now, helping them move." Jesus says.
"You seem like decent enough people, but I have to warn you, you saw it when we came back. We're locking down. We're up against a herd and something that could be worse. If you stay, you're gonna have to fight."
"We'd rather fight a herd in here than out there." Magna reassured him "Don't worry. We can fight and we'll help."
"Okay, welcome to Alexandria. Eugene will show you to your homes. Once you are settled, find Jesus, he'll give you the rest of your weapons and your assignments." Carl tells the group, who nods as they leave with Eugene.
Maggie's P.O.V
Maggie watched the people of the Hilltop move around, making sure all the posts had extra weapons and ammo and making sure the cars and horses were ready to leave with people at moments' notice. She looked at Beth as she walked down. "It's good we practiced all of this after Richmond." Maggie says to her sister.
"We're prepared." Beth says as she looks at her sister. "You ready for this? We've been at peace for so many years."
"I know how to do this, Bethy." Maggie says. "Georgie and Arthur are due back any day now. When they get here, we'll ask her to send Elijah and some men down with weapons to help."
Beth nods. "She'll help. She always comes through when we need her help," Beth says with a smile.
"Yeah, come on, we look like a bunch of lazy assholes." Maggie says. Beth chuckles as she follows her sister to near the gates.
Javier's P.O.V
Javier, Gabe, Clinton, and Paul stood in the church. "We need at least five guards on each wall." Javier says, standing over a map of the city pointing at the walls. "Each of them with enough ammo to take out a small herd." Javier says.
"Shouldn't we be sending some guns, ammo, and people over to Hilltop, Alexandria, the Sanctuary, and The Kingdom? We are the furthest away from Oceanside. They are the ones in danger," Gabe says.
"If Kathy is right and whatever those things are in the herd, use weapons, speak, and lead the herd. It doesn't matter that we are the furthest. This wouldn't be a normal herd, they could take this herd wherever they want, and we can't do anything about it." Javier says.
"Do you think she was telling the truth?" Paul spoke up, uncertain "Walkers that speak and use weapons?"
Javier said steadily "Doesn't matter if it was true or not. Something wiped them out and we need to be ready."
"He's right. We need to make sure Richmond is prepared to fight this herd when someone spots it, and we know where it is going. We'll send people then. Until then, we protect Richmond," Clinton added.
Paul nods as Javier looked at the two others "Pk head outside and start watch preparations, I need to talk to my nephew for a second."
Nodding, Paul walked to the doors saying "You got it, come on Clint."
After they left, Javier looked at Gabe worried "You think we should talk to Kate? She's due in a month from now."
Gabe sighed "Uncle Javi, I thought of that too. But you know how stubborn she is, and she won't leave her boyfriend who won't leave the others. Besides I heard the stories, I'm not going to cross Him."
Javier rubbed his eyes "Yeah shit. Alright table that to the side, I'll just discuss it with Kate later. Head to the Armory check if we have the ammo."
Nodding, his nephew ran to the doors as Javier looked at the wall, filled with photos of people they lost over the years.
And worried that before this ended, more would be added.
Reilly's P.O.V
Reilly and Arat walk through the Sanctuary. "D.J!" Arat called out to the man who looks at her, stopping in mid step. "You're in charge of setting up watches. I want at least three people on watch at all times!" Arat tells D.J., who nods as he walks away.
"We're at a disadvantage here." Reilly says, making Arat look at him, confused. "The other communities have more people than us. We can't cover as much, and we don't have the manpower to fight the herd for very long."
"If that herd shows up, we take out as many of them as possible, and we leave. We're prepared to escape. We have our ways out." Arat reassured him. "We'll be fine."
"...Yeah sure sorry just...worried." Rielly says.
"Trust me, I'm always right," She says with a smirk as she walks away, kissing his cheek in reassurance.
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl walked around the Kingdom after checking on Madison and Shane, stopping as he looked at Carol walking up to him. "What's on your mind, Pookie?" Carol asks with a smirk.
"That nickname needs to die." Daryl says with a smirk. "Just worried. It seems like whenever we finally are happy, and the world is going somewhere, something always comes to fuck it up."
"And we always beat that something. Remember?" Carol says.
"Not without losing people," Daryl Argued, looking around the bustling community.
"We'll always lose people, Daryl. We can't change that." Carol says.
"I know." Daryl says as he looks at Alicia, Ofelia, and Merle, who are talking with Jerry and his family. "Every time something comes, I'm worried that these are the last few days I'll have with them."
"I worried about that with Sophia when this all started. This is normal." Carol says as she lays her hand on his shoulder. "Anything that tries to hurt them is going to regret because they have an army protecting them. They have you, Shane, Madison, Rick, Carl, and me. Hell, they have Negan. That man would throw his life away a thousand times to keep them safe. He loves your wife and kids more than he loves himself. We all do. You won't lose them. I'll die before I let that happen, you understand me? I will die before I let anything happen to Alicia, Merle, and Ofelia. I promise that you deserve everything you've gotten, Daryl. You, more than anybody here, deserve a happy ending. You're gonna get it, I promise."
Daryl looks at Carol and nods as he hugs her. "I love you."
"I love you, too, Pookie," Carol says as she kisses his cheek.
Thanks for reading. The next chapter will be more of the communities and the leaders deciding who will go check on Oceanside. We are getting closer and closer to the introduction of Alpha and Beta, and I am so excited to write those two as they are two of my favorite villains. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.