Chapter 146- Conference

A month later

Alicia's P.O.V

Alicia's barrel goes through the head of a walker as she swings her knife into the forehead of another. She pulls her weapons out and looks at Negan as he slams his mace down on top of the last walker's head. "I would never mess with you, Mrs. Dixon," Negan says as he grabs the walker by its foot, and Alicia puts the knife back in her holster, pulls out a rag, and cleans off the barrel. "You know, it's a bitch clearing the wall with you, 'cause I have to do it all," Negan says as he grabs another walker by its legs.

"I know. It's one of the benefits of losing an arm, or maybe you're getting old" Alicia says with a smirk.

"That is just hurtful, I am a goddamn fox. Next time, let me get bit; I would love not to have to do this shit." Negan huffed as Daryl walks up to them.

"How are you feeling?" Daryl asks in deep concern.

"I'm fine relax," Alicia says warmly.

"I'll see you guys inside, so you can keep making goo-goo eyes," Negan says as he walks away.

"It's been a month, Daryl. I'm fine." Alicia sternly replied but held up her gauntlet. "This is pretty badass."

"It is, and I know. I just worry." Daryl said softly. "The others will be here soon. Winter is over, and it's time for us to talk."

"I know, come on," Alicia says as she leads Daryl inside.

Negan's P.O.V

Negan was holding Rose, cooing over her, when he saw the gate open, and Rick, Carl, Enid holding Robert, Michonne, and Gabriel came in. Negan walks up to the group, holding his daughter. "We finally did it, Rick. Just so you know!" Negan says, making Rick look confused as Daryl comes up to them.

"What did we do?" Rick asks warily, clearly expecting more.

"We have a full pirate set!" Negan says happily, making Rick sigh. "You lost your leg, even though you got it back, Carl lost his eye, and Alicia lost her arm."

Carl stared at him "You have been dying to make that joke."

"Yes."

"Why do we keep him around?" Rick asks the arriving Daryl tiredly.

"I ask that question every day." Daryl says.

"So, who are we waiting for?"

"Maggie, Beth, Arthur, Tara, Earl, Carol, Ezekiel, Jerry, and Sherry are here. We're waiting for Reilly, Javi, and Gabe. Elijah should be here soon as well," Daryl says.

"Alright," Rick says. "Have you seen anything weird?"

"We still have walkers coming, which means Alpha hasn't been getting more for her herd around here." Negan informed.

Michonne grimaced "Maybe she hasn't come back yet? Or dead?"

Rick gave his wife a look "When have we been that lucky?"

Sighing tiredly, Michonne shook her head "Fair."

"We'll wait for the others to keep talking." Rick turned.

"Agreeded." Negan then cooed to Rose "Now now want to meet little Robb?"

Enid gave a chuckle and held Robert out, the two babies now looking at each other.

Carl chuckled "Already getting along."

"Well, we're practically in laws so-"

"We're not in laws." Carl said dryly.

Negan snorted "You'll come around!"

Rick's P.O.V

Rick walked up to Alicia as she put her metal hand on the gauntlet in the main cabin. "Rick, you came already?" Alicia looked up.

"Alicia-" Rick started to say as he sits down beside her.

"If you are about to ask me how I'm doing, I'm going to hit you with this hand," Alicia says with a smirk making Rick chuckle.

"Well, you just answered my question," Rick says. "I need to talk with you about something."

"Okay?" Alicia looked up fully, confused. "What's up?"

"Because after this is over, and assuming that we're alive, I'm thinking about stepping down for good this time." Rick started, causing Alicia to look up in shock. "I led my group for years through almost everything. But...I enjoyed being able to spend down with my family, letting Carl take over." Rick says. "I've been talking with Daryl about this."

"How does he feel about it?" Alicia asks him.

"He's okay with it." Rick shrugged.

"Then why are you bringing it up to me?" Alicia asks Rick.

"Because I think Daryl needs to do the same thing. He's been leading for almost ten years, I think he should step down. Be there properly for Merle and Ofelia. I'd like for you to talk with him about doing it."

"Who would take over for him?" Alicia asks him, and Rick stays silent as he looks at her, causing her to draw back "Me?"

"Why not you?" Rick asked rhetorically. "You've helped him with it all this time. I'm asking you to think about it, I won't step down until I'm sure we are safe, and I don't want you to talk with Daryl about it yet, but I want you to think about it.

"OK, I will. Now come on." Alicia tells Rick, who nods as he stands up hearing the gate opening and the rest arriving.

Daryl's P.O.V

Daryl, Rick, Carl, Enid, Michonne, Gabriel, Aaron, Reilly, Javi, Gabe, Ezekiel, Carol, Jerry, Sherry, Eugene, Arthur, Elijah, Maggie, Alicia, Beth, Tara, Earl, Alden, Negan, Rosita, Morgan, Daniel, and Deacon All stood, sat, and gathered inside the big cabin for a community meeting.

"We all know why we are here." Daryl started off, standing. "Winter is over, which means Alpha and Beta could be coming back at any time or any day."

"Because of what Shane, Madison, John, and Victor did, we don't have the element of the surprise anymore. Because of that, we have to assume that if Alpha is back, she is preparing to attack if she found the bodies of her people." Rick continued. "We'll start with Eugene; how has fixing the radio been going?"

"Proceeding." Eugene nodded, giving a thumbs up. "With the parts that Georgie found us, I have been able to completely repair it, and with the dishes that they set up, I will be able to listen for other communities. We will wait and see if someone responds. If not, Arthur and I will form a group, and we will leave to find allies," Eugene tells everybody, who nods.

"What can Meridian offer us?" Maggie asked Elijah.

"Soldiers and weapons." Elijah bit his lip in a moment of grief hearing Georgie but pressed on strongly. "But still not enough to take on the herd that Alpha has. We can provide you with stronger weapons, but none of them will be able to kill all of those walkers."

"We can kill Alpha and Beta. But our biggest problem is still that herd. It it was as big as you claimed, it will tear through every community until we have nothing left." Beth says.

"We need a way to get rid of it. All of them," Deacon says.

"We could lead it off a cliff." Negan shrugged, chiming in.

Looking at him flatly, Daryl asked "That's it?"

"Daryl, that isn't the worse idea. But for that to happen, we would need Alpha to send the whole herd, and she is smarter than that; she'll only send fragments." Carol replies.

"We don't even have enough ammo to take out all of them, maybe a quarter or half, but not all." Gabriel bit his lip, crucifix in hand.

"Eugene, can you make bullets as before?" Ezekiel asks Eugene, who nods.

"I can do that until we leave. I should be able to make enough that will make our odds better." Eugene informed.

"I would like to talk about something else because of what Alpha did; we lost a doctor; if people get bit, we'll need one." Rick started.

"Kingdom has Rikki, Richmond has Paul, Alexandria has Siddiq, The Sanctuary has Edwards, and we have three." Daryl says.

"Three?" Maggie looked over at that number.

"We found someone a few days after Alicia got bit. His name is Dante." Daryl answered. "I bet Tobias would be okay with joining Siddiq in Alexandria until this is over."

"I'll have June talk with him." Alicia nodded at Maggie.

"What about the children?" Daniel asks in concern.

"We could put 'em here." Daryl says. "This is the only place Alpha doesn't know the location of, and neither did Brandon. If Alpha comes back, we could move them here for a little while."

"Alright," Rick says. "We'll-"

"We should go look." Negan says, cutting Rick off and making everybody look at him.

"Look at what?" Carol asks.

"The herd. Or Army of the dead. Huh got a nice ring to it." Negan shrugged.

"You wanna cross the border?" Ezekiel growls.

"Are you crazy?!" Aaron added, "We got lucky she wasn't there the last time!"

"I KNOW!" Negan cut off the other shouts standing to add. "I get it, the plan sounds stupid, but it's not as stupid as you think. If Alpha is back, there won't be any herd, but from what Lydia told us, she has a group bring the herd to the location she has them at a day or two before she arrives. So if the herd is there, we'll know she's coming, and we'll know where the herd is, this shit started when they crossed the border, we're not getting out of this war, we might as well be prepared."

At that the group all looked at each other then it was broken by a surprising voice.

"It's not the worse plan," Maggie says. "He isn't wrong, and we know Lydia wouldn't lie to us."

Daryl looks at Rick, who slowly nods. "Alright, fine, we'll leave tonight, five of us, Rick, Negan, Alden, Rosita, and I. We'll check it out, we'll get there early morning if we leave tonight, and it will be harder for Alpha to see us if she is there."

"We need to talk about what happens if Alpha sends the herd," Daryl says. "If Alpha sends the herd, fighters from here will be sent to the different communities to help."

"Who will guard the kids and people who need it?" Elijah asks.

"You would, you and your men, you have better weapons than us, and if Alpha does attack, you'll be able to hold them off longer than us." Daryl says.

At that Elijah stood with a grin, clearly ready to face the people who killed his leader "Your damn right we will."

"And Daniel brought up a point. The children." Rick says. "They need to know how to shoot a gun. At least Andrea, Merle, Ofelia, Hershel, Gracie, and Coco," Rick says. "Judith already knows and I know Clementine was teaching AJ. But I won't do it without all of your permission. I know Daryl has been teaching his kids a little bit."

"He's right. They need to defend themselves for what's coming" Daryl added.

"Who would teach them?" Maggie asks, concern for her son clear on her face.

"Shane and I. It'll be like when we were teaching Carl to shoot." Rick smirked a bit, seeing his son roll his eye. "Is that okay?"

Aaron sighed, nodding "That's fair Rick. I trust you."

Rosita and Maggie nodded, agreeing with Aaron.

Alicia sighed, clearly still on shaky terms with her stepfather, but nodded "Alright Rick."

"That's all for now, you'll stay here for the night, and tomorrow, we'll talk about what the five of us find." Daryl says as he stood to leave the rest following.

Lydia's P.O.V

Lydia walked into the house and could hear Kate and Negan arguing in another room. "You really think this is a good idea? You are walking in the lion's den, your gonna leave Rose here alone?" Hearing Kate protest, not liking the idea.

"Dammit I know that I know it's risky." Negan argued back. "But we need to know because if that bitch is back, she's gonna come after Lydia. You know it, and so do I. That girl has been worrying about this since they crossed that border. We need to know if she is back, but so does she; she needs to know that her mother is coming, and when that bitch does come, she will not touch that girl; I will tear her in two before she lays a hand on Lydia," Negan answered fiercly. "I am going across that border, and I will come back. You're not getting rid of me that easily."

"I know." Kate assured as she heard them kiss, with Lydia goes towards her room and shuts the door, sitting down on her bed, arms around her legs. A couple of seconds later, Negan opens the door, looking to see her there. He sighed for a moment and asked.

"You heard that?"

"You're crossing the border?" Lydia asks Negan softly, who nods slowly. "I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

"I'll be back, kid." Negan says as he sits down beside her and looked at her. "I hate that you have to go through this. No kid should have to fight their own mother, but I want you to know we'll be with you every step of the way." Negan says, but stopped as she hugs him. "Nothing's going to happen to you, Lydia. I promise," Negan says before he kisses her head.

Thanks for reading. Next chapter Rick, Negan, Daryl, Alden, and Rosita cross the border as the others continue to prepare for Alpha. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.