Chapter 130- Silence
Ezekiel's P.O.V.
Ezekiel stood above the people of the Alliance with a grin high on the balcony after a brief argument with Jerry. "I stand before you today to celebrate tomorrow and the days to come. To celebrate our families and friends, the Alliance, the New World, today we celebrate that and the friends and family we lost. We celebrate Oceanside, Troy Otto, Dwight Amelio, and everybody before!" Ezekiel says.
"Four men created this world for us. They are the reason we all stand here today," Ezekiel says as he looks at Rick, who waved a bit uncomfortable next to him.
"Rick Grimes, the man who led us against the Saviors, who almost gave his life to save us multiple times over!"
Ezekiel then looks at Carl, who smiled and waved down. "Carl Grimes, his dream, the dream of the New World, the one that he told his father about, we have used that to build this world. It has been my honor, and many are honored to have watched you grow. You are the future young man."
He then looks at Daryl. "Daryl Dixon, the man who took the lead, he led us against Richmond, he led us against the Rippers. He is a man that I trust to protect this more than anybody. I know no man is more loyal than Daryl, he continued the dream, and he made it a reality!" Ezekiel says with a grin and looks around. "It seems our last guest is missing," Ezekiel says. "Paul Rovia, Jesus, the man who brought us all together, he seems to be shy, but he is the guest of honor here. Everybody knows that Jesus was the start of the New World. We all owe him thanks." Ezekiel shouted, and the community was filled with joyous cheers and shouts.
"Let the First Annual Intercommunity Relations Fair Begin!" Jerry came in front of the crowd, his arms spread wide.
"Jerry!" Ezekiel hissed down.
"What?" Jerry blinked, looking up at the balcony, befuddled.
"We changed that."
"For reals? F.A.I.R, fair-" Jerry started counting down, causing a few snickers from the crowd, Carl and Rick sharing an amused look while Daryl hid a smirk.
"It's too many- Never mind." As the crowd began to cheer once more.
Ezekiel shook his head and led the others downstairs "I love the man like a brother, but he lacks seriousness sometimes."
"Let him have his fun, Ezekiel," Rick patted his shoulder, then turned to Daryl "Hey can you and Carol wait up? I'm entertaining someone."
"Who?" Daryl paused then saw a small form running up, as Rick grinned warmly and got on a knee.
"Grandpa!" Hershel Rhee gave him a hug then stepped back "Oh! Hi Uncle Carl, Uncle Daryl, Grandpa Ezekiel, that was real awesome of you!"
Laughing, the King rubbed the boy's head "My thanks little one. Now go with your Grandpa Rick, I'm sure he has something planned."
Negan's P.O.V
Negan walked through the Kingdom's stands, noticing although a few gave him hostile looks, a good few more nodded, waving pleasantly at him.
"What's with the grumpy look, sourpuss?" Negan looked at Kate, who was holding his hand next to him, the other hand on her stomach.
"I shouldn't have let her go out there with them."
"She'll be fine. She's with Jesus, Arat and everyone else." Kate tells him. "Come on, show me around."
"Ok if the lady insists." Negan says. "But I'm tying her up when she gets back."
Kate grinned "That like a kinky thing?"
"What?!" Negan paused, looking horrified "Eew. No!"
"Just making sure."
But then he froze as he saw a dozen feet in front of him, getting some food from a vendor. Rick and Hershel were next to each other, starting to turn towards him.
Rick's P.O.V
"Rick!" Maggie says to the man who was speaking with Hershel, kneeling down "Ozzy just radioed. They found a wagon, a Hilltop one, destroyed, dead bodies."
"Alright, get a group together." Rick tells Maggie, who nods, giving her son a hug with an assurance to be right back. Hearing this, he knelt down and said to Hershel "OK listen, your Mom and I are going out for a bit, stay with Henry and Charlie ok?"
Hershel pouted "But Grandpa you promised-"
"No buts." Rick said firmly "I'll be back to watch the movie with you soon. I promise."
Giving him a quick kiss on the head, Rick ran and soon found Daryl and Alicia near a stand, eating a corn on the cob. Spitting out a corn, he saw the look on Rick's face asking "What happened?"
"I need you to hold down the fort." Rick says.
"What's wrong?" Daryl asks.
"A wagon, one of Hilltop's destroyed."
Daryl nods as Rick turns to leave. "He's going with you." Alicia says, making both men look at her.
"What? I don't need to."
"You do." Alicia says. "I know you, and I can see it. This is killing you. Go. Come back alive."
"I will," Daryl says as he follows Rick, but the two stopped as they saw Negan standing there with a pale look.
"What wagon?" Negan asked tightly.
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl, Rick, Shane, Negan, Reilly, Alden, John, Carl, Maggie, and Morgan followed Ozzy through the woods until they reached the bodies. Glancing through, Daryl saw some Hilltop and Kingdom residents, but none he outright recognized.
"Jesus isn't here." Maggie said in tight worry.
Negan came up on the other end, his normally joking face pale "Laura isn't here either. Fuck fuck fuck!"
"Hey hey." Alden put a hand up "We don't know what happened."
Ozzy nodded firmly "Already told my men to watch the road up and down here for any of these skin freaks."
"You've been told about the Whisperers?" Daryl asks him.
"Carol filled us in." Ozzy tells him. Daryl nods as he looks around, kneeling down with Morgan and Rick next to him.
Morgan asked, "See anything?"
"I got a trail." Daryl says. "They went through the woods."
"What do we do?" Alden asks.
"We follow them." Rick says then turned ordering. "Ozzy, tell the others we are on their trail and we are doing our best to find them."
The group walked for hours, little to be said as they were fraught with concern, some even getting snappish as The sun went down as they walked. They stopped when they heard a walker growling. Daryl rose the crossbow at it, clearly out of patience.
"No."
Daryl froze as the Walker spoke, standing still. Realizing it was a Whisperer.
"Drop them." The Whisperer hissed out, drawing a knife.
Suddenly all around them from holes and as if from raising from the dead they were surrounded by knife wielding Whisperers and many pointing bows and arrows.
"Daryl." Carl says as he looks around them, surrounded. Whisperers stood around them, surrounding the group as more came out of the woods, creating a circle around the survivors. "Fuck."
"Drop them." They all look at the woods as Beta walks towards them, and Daryl stares at the giant in shock, none the worse for wear.
"You didn't kill him, boss." Negan growls.
"Shut the fuck up," Daryl growled back.
"Drop them or die." Beta growls glaring daggers at Daryl in particular. Daryl and Rick look at each other and nod as they drop their weapons, and the group follows.
Daryl saw Negan clutching his mace, staring down Beta, catching his eye. He shook his head causing his once enemy to sigh and drop it as well.
Leading them to a thick brush, they saw Alpha herself waiting there. Freezing, Daryl saw something...she was cleaning off a blood soaked machete and handing it to one of her people.
Alpha soon turned and stared "Ah the 'Legendary' Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon, the brotherhood. I'm not impressed." She turned to Beta, ordering "Tie the rest to the trees, these two will come with me."
"Why?" Daryl growled.
Alpha turned her almost inhuman gaze at him "We are...just to have a chat. Just the three of us. Beta keep watch of the others if any of them attempt an escape? Kill them all."
She reached down and picked up a shotgun, pointing at them both "Start walking."
Staring coldly, Rick said "I'm not leaving my family or my son."
"As a parent I understand." Alpha replied "I assure you we will just chat. Do so and no harm will come to you or your precious 'family.' Now walk."
Carl said softly "Dad." Causing Rick to look at his firstborn child "We'll be fine."
Nodding once, Rick and Daryl turned and were led out by Alpha, pointing the shotgun at the pair's backs.
Carl P.O.V
They were all tied, a few at a time to a small bundle of trees...Many silent, and Negan making a joke "Wow ropes huh? Kinky."
Carl silently grimaced, begging Negan to for once shut up and not antagonize the towering mammoth of a man, who seemed to ignore him, tying Maggie and Morgan to another tree.
Beta soon stood and looked at Negan then, staring stonily "You are him. The one they use to fear."
"And You are one ugly motherfucker. I mean you look like you fell off a beanstalk Jolly Green Giant. How about you untie these ropes, give me my mace, and you see how hard the Big Bad Wolf bites?" Negan gave Beta an unafraid vicious grin.
Maggie hissed "Negan shut up, your not helping. They just want to talk."
"Have a funny way of showing it." He sighed and looked up "I mean, what's the deal with you two? A Beta with Benefits situation?"
Beta seemed to growl and draw a massive knife, but one of the guards frantically spoke "Beta!" The Second in Command turned as the Whisperer whimpered, gulping "P-p-please. The Alpha herself gave her orders. They are not to be harmed unless she gives her word."
For a long moment, Beta was silent and glared at Negan. Then he put his knife away saying stoically "Soon. Once the Alpha returns, you will be released to the border."
"Border?" Shane asked, confused next to Carl "What the hell did you guys do? And where are our friends?"
"You shall see." Beta said in a cold tone and walked off, his coat flowing across the ground.
"Jesus Christ Negan is it that hard to shut up for more then five minutes?" Reilly growled to his old leader.
But Negan himself was silent as he said "Never mind that...you saw what that crazy Bitch was doing?"
Carl looked back, and remembered. Alpha was wiping down a blood drenched machete, almost too confident.
And the Young Leader was convinced something terrible had happened.
Rick's P.O.V
Daryl and Rick had begun to walk as Alpha tells them where to go, holding the shotgun to her backs all the while. "I've seen how you live." Alpha started, making the two men turn their heads and look at her. "I've walked your streets, seen your houses. It is all a joke. Life is blood, pain, and sacrifice. Your people have not realized that yet. You have to build a shrine to the old world. We are animals, but you pretend that you are not. My people, the Whisperers, We are free."
"You aren't." Rick says incredulously, unsure he could believe what this woman was saying. "Those people back there, they're free?"
"Yes, they are." Alpha tells him. "You talk about this 'New World', this great bigger world, but it is all a joke, a lie, and I will prove that to you."
"You won't." Daryl says. "We've lost some much for this world. You won't take it away from us."
"So you say." Alpha sneered as they start to hear the groans.
"You say your people are free, but that is bullshit. They're free to wear human skin, sleep out in the cold. This is all bullshit to keep the sheep in line and answering to you. It's an overblown power trip." Rick growls, turning fully to face her as Daryl looked at him in worry, the shotgun pointing inches from Rick's chest.
Alpha met his gaze coldly "We are animals, Rick Grimes, and animals need a leader. There is a dominant and a submissive. The Alpha and the Beta." Soon they step up on rocks, and Daryl and Rick stare at the herd of walkers. Thousands upon thousands of walkers walked around in the canyon, more than either man had ever seen and too many for them to ever handle, and both men felt fear staring at the herd. "If the Alpha doesn't assert herself, there is chaos. So that is what I've done."
"What'd you do?" Daryl asks, turning back to her.
"Your friends back at the camp are fine. Tell them the next time they cross into my lands, my horde will cross into theirs. The land between the broken interstates and the river to the south is mine. I've marked the border to the north. You'll see it as you leave." Alpha looked down at the horde and back up with a smirk on her dirty features.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Rick asked lowly, a sinking feeling settling.
"You'll see it as you leave. Go, your friends are waiting for you with your weapons. They are waiting for you in the field due north."
"Did you kill Lydia?" Daryl asks, clearly wondering if Alpha had done something as well
"I don't think you can protect my daughter. I hope I'm wrong." Alpha dropped her shotgun and pointed North, letting them go.
"You are." Daryl says as the two men walk away. Pausing, Rick looked back and saw Alpha just standing there still as can be, cold as ice eyes staring at him. Rick met her gaze a moment more before following.
For a long minute the two were silent to make sure none of her people were following them, then Rick broke it, his voice heavy.
"Daryl-"
"I know, Rick, we can't beat that. We can't beat her." Daryl says equally wary as they fall back into silence. They continue to walk until they see the group waiting for them, none of whom looked harmed. Carl gives Daryl his knives, gun, and crossbow while Maggie hands Rick his weapons.
"You guys ok?" Alden asked, brow furrowed.
"We're fine." Daryl looked around "You?"
Carl shook his head "Didn't hurt us, Beta almost gutted Negan it looked like. But restrained himself."
For once Negan didn't quip to this and stepped forward "Did they show where they're keeping the others?"
Daryl's lips tightens, remembering they still had people missing "No...she didn't."
"What did she show you then?" Maggie asks.
"Her horde. We can't beat it, it's a goddamn army. There had to have been tens of thousands." Daryl shook his head. "She said she marked a border north of here. Once we cross that, we don't come back. We leave her alone until we figure something out."
"What about Nick, Jesus, Arat, Laura, and the others?" Shane yelled.
Rick looked north "She said...in the field due north is where we'll find our friends."
At that, the rest of them turned North and started to walk, dread filling their stomachs.
No one's P.O.V.
Daryl, Rick, Shane, Negan, Reilly, Alden, John, Carl, Maggie, and Morgan walk through the woods after Alpha let them go. Soon they heard yelling and run towards a tree when they see someone against it tied and bloodied. "Brandon!" Reilly says. Brandon looks at them with fear in his eyes as Daryl cuts the rope.
"This...this way," Brandon says as he pushes them away and moves towards the hill. They slowly walk up it, and the spikes come into view. As they got closer, their stomachs dropped as they realized that heads rested on the pieces of wood. Making a border, they stared at them in transfixed horror as Daryl and Rick looked at the first one.
The Kingdom
Earl walked up to Tara and Kenneth. "Tara." Earl says, making the woman look at her. "Have you seen Tammy? Have you seen your mother, Kenneth?"
The field
The head of Tammy-Rose sat on the first spike, staring at the group as her mouth moved. Then the two alliance leaders looked at the second head as Negan fell to his knees.
The Kingdom
Rodney and Addy watch as people walk into the theater, looking for their friend among the Saviors who promised to meet them there when his patrol was over. "Has anybody seen Gage?" Rodney asks the people one by one.
Addy added, eyes full of concern "Guys, have you seen Gage?"
The field
The head of Gage sat on the second spike, the young teenager who had a future ahead killed and left as one of the dead. They then looked at the third and fourth heads as Shane dropped his shotgun to the ground.
The Kingdom
"Are you sure you have not seen her?" Eugene asks Beth, who shakes her head.
"No, the last time I saw her, she was with D.J." Beth tells Eugene, who nods as he walks away with a frown on his face, seeing some faces among the crowd getting worried as well.
The field
Georgia and D.J.'s heads stared into the eyes of Rick and Daryl as they stared at the woman who had done nothing but helped them since she arrived and the former Savior who had become one of their most trusted fighters. The teeth of the two heads kept hitting each other as they moaned. They looked at the fifth head as John's hat fell to the ground, and he dropped his revolver. The side with the initials J.D. faces toward the sky.
The Kingdom
Clementine walked up to A.J. as he looked around him, eyes full of sadness and worry. "What's wrong, goofball?" She asks as she grabs her brother's hand.
"I can't find Momma."
"I bet she's around here somewhere." Clementine looked up, unsure where she went too.
The field
Lilly Chambler's head was on the fifth spike, the eyes facing the ground as her hair flowed in the wind. The blood dripped off the spike, and she bit at them. The person that she was gone forever. Reilly let out a cry. The two leaders looked at the sixth head.
The Kingdom
Gabriel stood by Carol. "She wanted to talk with me about trading some seeds for food." Gabriel tells her. "But I can't find her, and nobody else has seen her.
"She's gotta be around here somewhere." Carol turned, trying to wonder if her patrol had come back yet.
The field
The sixth head stared at Rielly as the man sobbed, staring at the head of his dead wife. Arat's lifeless eyes stared back at her husband with no recognition, only seeing the love of her life as food. Maggie's gun fell to the ground as Morgan laid his hand on John's shoulder as his eyes were only on the next head.
The Kingdom
June held J.J. and looked around. "Where do you think he is?" June asks before she kisses her son's head. "You think he's hiding from us? Are there too many of you? Maybe he's getting jealous." She says as she looks around again. "Come on, let's go find Grandpa."
The field
The bottom of the white beard was now red, his short hair moved slowly in the wind, and the head of John Dorie Sr sat on the seventh spike. The head was looking at the pride of John Dorie Sr's life, his son.
Tears came to Carl's eyes as he laid his hand on Negan's shoulder. The former warlord's hand was in the grass as he stared at the eighth head, numb and in shock.
The Kingdom
Rikki looked at Deacon and Beth. "Are you sure you haven't seen her?" Rikki asks the two, who shake their head. "Addy needs to check up on her. I've been looking for her for over ten minutes."
"She's not the only one missing." Earl says as he runs up to them. "A lot more are."
Beth said in worry "What do you mean missing?"
The field
Tears streamed down Negan's face as his knuckles turned white from gripping the grass so hard. Negan stared at the head and knew he had failed, he had failed the man who saved his life. The head of Laura stared at the men and woman. The woman who had lost her love only days ago sat on the eighth spike, the baby she was having, the child of Troy Otto, gone, dead just as its mother and father were. Negan let out a cry of anguish, echoing throughout the field.
"No." Shane says. "No! NO! NO!" Shane shouts as he stares at the ninth.
The Kingdom
Alicia ran through the Kingdom until she saw Strand. "Where are they?" Alicia asks Strand. "Where is my family, Strand?"
"We will find them, Alicia." Strand says as he grabs her shoulder. "Come on, tell me what's wrong" Strand says as they begin to run again. They stop when they see one of the three Clarks left alive, and Alicia's stomach drops. They see Michonne run up to the Clark. "We can't find Rosita or Kate." Michonne says.
The field
"NO!" Shane shouted as he stared at the head of his son. Nick Clark's head stood on the ninth spike. A man who had only tried to spread peace, and mercy, was killed brutally and taken from the ones he loved. Shane stared at him for the first time since the farm. He felt the man he once was coming back.
"Don't look," Daryl says as he runs in front of Maggie. "You don't want to see."
The Kingdom
"Aaron!" Lydia shouts as she runs up to Aaron and Jerry who were coming out of the theater, to check where the growing missing people were, staring as Lydia came up to them. "My mother was here, and we can't find...we can't find Kate, Rosita, or Jesus."
Aaron's face went pale, staring at Lydia in horror
The field
Ten heads stood on the spikes, but Rick Grimes stared at the last one as Daryl blocked Maggie's view and stared at the last one as well. The long brown hair flowed through the wind, the eyes soulless. The head of Paul Rovia, Jesus, stood on the final spike. The man who had started the New World was now dead. As they stood there, staring at their dead loved ones. Daryl Dixon and Rick Grimes felt something that they hadn't felt since Negan killed Glenn and Abraham. They felt defeated; Alpha had beaten them, torn down what they had built, and she had won. She had beaten them and taken away their hope. The New World was starting to crumble.
As they stared at the heads, they didn't know that two more had escaped, desperately clinging to the last hope left.
Thanks for reading. That was so fucking hard to write. To make it clear, the spike victims are. Tammy-Rose, Gage, D.J, Georgie, Lilly, Arat, Dorie, Laura, Nick, and Jesus. The next chapter will be during this day, and it is going to show more with these characters, their final interactions, how they were caught, and their deaths, so it will be a sort of flashback chapter. It will show everything that happened at the fair after the group left, everything with Lydia and Alpha. In two chapters, we will pick up from here. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.