Chapter 149-Sacrifices

No one's P.O.V

Kingdom

Daryl was woken up when he heard someone pounding on his door, rapidly he stood and ran to it. Alicia watches him as he pulls the door open and looks at Jerry. "What?"

"A herd has been spotted a mile away. Ezekiel wants you and Alica to lead the first group while he prepares the second and third groups." Jerry said to Daryl in a hasty tone, who nods as he shuts the door. He walks to the bed and puts on his boots while Alicia puts her clothes and boots on. Daryl grabs his vest, crossbow, handgun, and knives as Alicia attaches her prosthetic arm.

"You ready?" Daryl asks his wife, who nods determined, as they head towards the door.

Hilltop

John stepped out of his trailer inside Hilltop, and walks towards where Maggie, Beth, Sarah, Daniel, Deacon, and a couple of other members of Hilltop are waiting. "Strand, Cole, and Tara are getting the other groups ready. They'll be ready to take over for us when we need a break. We're gonna be fighting all night." Beth says.

"Then, let's get to work." John says as he pushes the gates open. They set up where there was a trench and spikes to slow the walkers down, John removing his revolvers as the herd was seen coming out of the treeline.

Alexandria

Carl stood behind the second gate inside Alexandria. On his right stood Rick, and on his left, Madison. Behind them stood Rachel, Charlie, Earl, Connie, Alden, and other members of Alexandria. "Michonne, Leah, and Boozer are ready with the other groups." Rick tells his son, who nods. "You ready? We're gonna be fighting for a while. It's gonna take a lot to survive this."

"We can't just fight to survive, Dad." Carl says. "We have to fight for the future, for our families, for the ones we've lost, for the new world."

Rick then put a hand on his shoulder, saying softly "And for Paul."

Remembering the one who first spoke of it, Carl gulped and nodded determined "fFor Paul."

Rick smiles as they hear the walkers. "Get ready!" Rick shouts as Carl, and he remove their hatchets.

The Sanctuary

Reilly stabbed the walker in the head as members of Richmond fought beside him. "There's too many of them!" Frankie says.

"We gotta keep fighting!" Reilly shouts. "For as long as we can," He says as he stabs another walker in the head.

Reilly heard a scream and turned to see a savior named Potter pulled over the spikes and into the herd as they started to devour him. "Tanya!" Reilly shouts, and the woman looks at him. "Tell the Richmond soldiers to get on the walls and start shooting!" Tanya nods as she runs into the Sanctuary. "We can do this!" Reilly shouts as he kills another walker.

The Kingdom

Daryl's P.O.V

Daryl enters the Kingdom as Carol and Ezekiel lead another group out. They had been fighters against the walkers for five hours as he heard Negan next to him complain "It's wave after fucking wave, and we haven't seen hide or hair of the fucking Skins."

"She's trying to wear us down." Daryl says as Natalia gets him a bottle of water. "We don't have long. We gotta get back out there."

"We need a little bit of rest. We're no use if we are too tired to fight." Alicia argued with her husband.

Daryl nods as he looks at Negan, who was bent over spitting on the ground "How are you doing?"

"Oh you know, just...give me a minute." He coughed out, and looked up "But other then that fucking fantastic. But I'd kill for a fucking beer right now."

Turning Daryl nodded at Carol "Next one is about half mile out, west."

"Noted." Carol rubbed her own eyes as Negan looked down at Sherry's mace, and commented "That's awesome."

"Shut up." She didn't look at him as she walked faster to the gate.

"Fifteen minutes." Daryl said soon enough, heading to the rest area to get some water.

Shane's P.O.V

Shane sat by Eugene as he poured gunpowder into one of the metal casings, saying "Like this?"

Eugene nodded distractedly "Exactly. Put some over there!" He called over to several of the new workers that were setting down lead casings from the Sanctuary as Dante ran inside.

"Eugene!"

"What is it?" Eugene didn't look up, starting a new batch.

"Your radio just went off."

"Was anyone on the other end?" Eugene shot his head up as he turned to look at him, his face widening in hope.

"A woman, maybe, it was cut off with static." Dante says.

"Go watch the radio. We'll keep making bullets." Shane tells Eugene. "We got this."

Eugene nods as he stands up and walks away, and Dante takes his place.

Carl's P.O.V

Carl stabbed a walker in the head as Alden stabbed a spear through another one's head. "Carl. You need a break," Rick tells Carl, who shakes his head, but his Father grabbed his shoulder firmly with paternal authority.

"I'm fine." Carl says as he stabbed another walker, trying to ignore the sweat coming down his brow.

"Your Dad is right, kid. You've been at this for six hours." Earl added, shaking his own head of sweat "Go."

Rick nodded at Earl in thanks as he pulled Carl back into the gate as Yumiko and Luke took over for them, hearing his father quickly tell them about another herd coming east of them before he turned back to him.

"We can't fight all day. We gotta let the others help."

"I'm their leader. I should be out there fighting with them." Carl says as Rick hands him a bottle of water.

"You're right. You are their leader, which means they need you."

"We've already lost three people," Carl says as he sits down against a building.

"I know, son," Rick says as he sits down beside him on the steps of his house. "We knew this was coming; we did our best to prepare for it, and now we just gotta fight until it's over, or we are dead."

"We can't keep doing this. We'll all pass out before the end of tomorrow." Carl looked out at Alexandria in frustration

"Hey, we may have lost some people, but they haven't broken through yet, and that is the most important thing we're gonna win."

Carl nods as he takes another drink "What next?"

Rick gestured him up and led him inside...Carl stopping as he saw Michonne in there, taping a map to a wall on the side of the kitchen.

The wall was covered to the brim with maps of the region...Carl looking at it then his father wide eyed.

"Done for now?" Michonne asked softly.

Nodding, Rick kissed her cheek "Yeah, you're up next. We got it from here." With that he looked at the map of walls, muttering.

"Now where the hell are you?"

Reilly's P.O.V

Reilly stabbed a walker through the head as the Richmond soldiers shot, led by a yelling Clint. Reilly turned when he heard a shot. "They're coming!" Frankie shouts as the wooden spikes beside her begin to break and walkers start to come through.

"Get inside!" Reilly shouts as he kills another walker. He moves towards Frankie as a walker grabs her arm. He stabs it in the head as a walker grabs him from behind and bites into his shoulder, causing him to scream as he elbows it in the face. Frankie grabs his hand and pulls him into the Sanctuary, but as the guards tried to shut the door, he screamed "Get out! You all know the exits! GO!" He shouts to his people, who nod as the gates open and the guards try to shut the gates and are taken into the herd. "Frankie, go!" He tells her as he tries to pull him.

"I'm not leaving you." She tells him.

"My fight is over." He tells her firmly. "Go to Alexandria. I'm not letting them get our guns. Let me die keeping our people safe and spitting in the face of that fucking bald lunatic." He tells her, and she nods. "Tell Rick thank you," Reilly turns towards the herd and removes his handgun as he hears her run. "Come on, you ugly fuckers!" He says as he shoots a couple of them. He opens the door to the armory building and moves to the back, where the cage is. He shuts the door as the walker enters and surrounds the building, He grabs a belt of grenades and throws them on the floor and outside with the windows. He aims his gun at the one he dropped in front of him as the cage door opens, and walkers start to come in. "I'm coming, love." He says as he pulls the trigger, and his world turned to white.

Daryl's P.O.V

Daryl stabs a walker in the head as Carol comes up behind him. "What?" He asks her. He stops and looks at her, seeing her face. "What's wrong?"

"The Sanctuary's gone. Frankie just got to Alexandria with some others." Carol tells him as he pulls him into the Kingdom as Negan kills the last walker. "Get on the walls, watch for the next wave." She tells Ozzy and his men, who nodded. "Rick's on the radio."

Daryl nods as he walks away. He walks into the radio room and sits down. "Rick." Daryl says.

"I'm here. How's it going over there?" Rick asks him.

"We've lost five people but kept the walkers out. What happened?"

"The walkers got in, Reilly...He's gone. He got bit helping Frankie and stayed behind. He blew up the armory, is what Frankie is saying." Rick says.

"Dammit!" Daryl says as he slams his hand against the table. "Hilltop?"

"Talked with Maggie. They've lost two, doing good." Rick says.

"We can't keep this up, man." Daryl says.

"We gotta, for Reilly, we have to make sure he didn't die for nothing."

"For Reilly."

Daryl scowled in frustration "Anything about where Alpha's keeping these things?"

"Working on it."

Maggie's P.O.V

Maggie walks out of Barrington house and looks at everybody as they prepare for the next wave. "Kal and Cole are on the walls. Is she done?" Beth asks.

"No, she's seeing where we are. We have to be ready to move at a moment's notice." She tells her sister, who nods.

"What happened at the Sanctuary? Reilly?" John asks.

"Reilly's dead, the Sanctuary is gone. He took himself out with an explosion, probably took out a decent amount of the herd there." Maggie tells him. "It's going to be dark soon. She'll send more soon. Get some rest."

John grimaced, but nodded as they started to disperse at the news that a community had fallen.

"Al needs to take Hershel." Beth tells Maggie, who nods.

"I have to talk to him first, get the MRAP ready." She tells her as she walks into Barrington house.

Beth walked up "Wait wait, Maggie...look maybe Daryl has a point-"

"We don't know what's gonna happen over the next few days." Maggie looked at her sister firmly. "I rather it came from me than anyone else."

With that, she went into the house and walked up the stairs step by step, trying to figure out how to bring this up, if she should be direct or tredge carefully. Soon she walks up to Hershel's room as he packs a bag.

"I'm ready, Mom." Hershel says, looking around his room sadly.

"You're about to leave, but we need to talk quickly." Maggie says as she sits.

Hershel blinked, and looked at her "Ok? What is it?"

"Your Dad and Negan."

"The Negan who lives with Daryl? The one who helped Miss Lydia?" Hershel asks his mother, who nods.

Maggie closed her eyes and took a breath. "We...have a past with him...and I'd rather you hear this from me directly."

Her son frowned, worried "Mama, is it bad?"

Deciding to be up front and direct, Maggie said quietly "Negan he...he was the one who killed your Father."

"What?" Hershel asks in shock, standing up looking at his mother in shock, confusion, and disbelief. "You said a Bad Man did it."

"Yes. Negan used to be a very bad man. He killed more than just your Dad."

"Then why is he still alive?" Hershel asks in anger.

"Because Rick spared him for Carl. Hershel, the man he was when he killed Glenn, is not the man he is now. He's...He's a good man with a horrible past, and he has been trying to make up for what he did since the day Uncle Daryl let him out of that cell. I have never forgiven him for what he did, and neither do you, but he is looking for redemption, and he's earned it. He has put his life on the line for others multiple times." Maggie says as her voice breaks.

"He should die! You all kept saying how important my father was and you're saying you let his killer live!?" Hershel yelled at her.

"You can't try to kill him."

Hershel glared at her then "Well why?!"

"I tried to kill him, and your Grandpa Rick almost died for it!" Maggie shouts, and Hershel closes his mouth. "The leg injury he had, that was because of me," Maggie says as tears start to go down her face. "Revenge is a fool's game and is not worth it, and I do not want you to make the same mistakes I did. You can hate him and never forgive him, but you can't take revenge. Not just because someone will get hurt but because... because he's one of us now, and that isn't what your Dad would have wanted for you. Not your Grandfather either. I told you this because you deserve to know. People can change; don't ever forget that."

"Whatever." Hershel looks down as he grabs his bag and walks towards the door.

"Hershel, you can't tell any of the other kids." Maggie stood, calling out to him.

Hershel doesn't say anything as he leaves the room and walks toward Al, who is waiting by the stairs, as staring after him Maggie puts her head in her hands starting to sniff.

Eugene's P.O.V

Eugene sat by the radio, tapping the intercom over and over. "Hello this is Eugene Porter to anyone out there. Come in."

He looked at Shane as he walked in. "Anything?" Shane asks.

"No." Eugene sighed, dropping the receiver. "I'm coming back out, damn it I thought for sure-"

"Hello?" A woman on the radio says, making Shane and Eugene look at it. "Is anybody there? Is Miss Georgie there?"

Thanks for reading. In the next chapter, the groups continue to fight, and an enemy comes with them with a deal. Eugene talks to the woman. Killing off Reilly has been something that I have been thinking about for a while, and I wanted this to have consequences. The Sanctuary is gone, and Alpha is continuing to destroy the new world. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.