Chapter 160- Preparations
Eugene's P.O.V
Eugene sat by the roaring fire that night. Eugene looked at Jerry as he walked up and sat beside him. "Everybody else is sleeping." Jerry reported to Eugene who nods, studying his missing arm. "You doing, okay?"
"I am." Eugene says as stares at it a moment more, then focused. "We should hit Pittsburgh tomorrow. That's going to be the hardest part of our journey, getting through the city, but once we get out of there, we should be able to reach Charleston in a day or so."
"We'll be early." Jerry said cautiously.
"Good that's the point, maybe they'll be waiting for us, we need to meet them at our earliest convenience. And we need to make a deal with them, before those Skins kill everybody we love." Eugene says and Jerry nods, clearly not liking the idea of surprising their potential ally, but Eugene was grateful he didn't argue.
"Get some sleep, I'll keep watch." Jerry nods as he stands up and pats Eugene's shoulder and then he goes to lay down as Eugene stares into the fire.
Lydia's P.O.V
Lydia walked into the infirmary and up to Rosita's bed pushing her shoulder against the door holding a tray of food. Morgan sat in a chair, his head resting on the bed as he slept, Coco in the next bed over her chest rising up and down. Rosita looked at the girl and smiled. "You're here early," Rosita says.
"I wanted to check on you," Lydia responded. "I brought you breakfast." She says as she sets the tray down on the other table.
"Thank you." Rosita smiled at the tray, but it faded to a look of concern. "You doing okay?"
"I should be asking you that, you almost died." Lydia gestured to her leg as she sits down beside her.
"I'm fine, Lydia. But...what you had to do. Holding your mother at gunpoint, that couldn't have been easy."
"I wanted to kill her." Lydia admitted softly and Rosita stares at her. "I wanted to kill her for what she has done, but I couldn't. I couldn't pull the trigger, but I wanted to, and yet I couldn't. My mother has caused so much pain and so much death not just here but for years she's killed and destroyed, and a part of me still loves her."
Rosita reaches over and takes her hand. "It's okay."
"It's not, how can I love someone so horrible?" Lydia looked at her, eyes watery.
"Because she wasn't always horrible, and she kept you safe. You were a child when all this started Lydia, she kept you alive, and I imagine before this, you were a happy family. You don't love who is she now, you love the woman from before, the one that kept you alive at the start and there is nothing wrong with that." Rosita tells her softly.
Lydia nods as she squeezes Rosita's hand.
Rick's P.O.V
Rick, and Daryl stood in front of the community as they gathered in front of Barrington house. "Alpha will attack tomorrow night," Rick tells them. He looks at Mary, standing a bit aways, who stares at the ground stonily, then at the ground. "This is Mary, she came here to tell us that, to give us time to prepare for Alpha and her herd. She's with us now-"
"She's one of them!" Ozzy shouts accusingly. "How do we know she isn't a spy like Dante!?"
"Why tell us if she was?" Daryl pointed out. "I understand why you don't trust or like this. But she has just as many reasons to want Alpha dead as the rest of us. She won't carry a weapon and Gabriel will be watching her and if she tries anything. I promise you, I'll deal with her myself, but she deserves a chance, she's done bad things, so have the rest of us. If anybody attacks her, there will be consequences. Understood!?" Daryl asks harshly.
There was a good bit of silence, many looking nervous at the fierce redneck's yell. Causing Rick to speak again. "We have less than two days to prepare. We have to be ready, we make our stand here, we're done running! We're going to fight. Alpha has lost more than half of her herd. We can win, she's gonna hit us with everything she has right here. We're gonna fight, and if we die, we're gonna go down swinging."
Daryl watches as people look at each other worried. "I know you're scared. I am too. Alpha is more dangerous than anybody we have ever fought, but she'll lose, just like the rest of them did. We have fought so hard since the war; we've made this home and we've all lost people. Those people, they're alive in us, as long as we keep fighting till our last breath, it's all worth it. That's how we honor them. This Bitch is not the end, I know it, let's show her that she's fucking with the wrong people."
They watch as the people nod and many start to cheer and raise fists. "We got a lot of work to do, so let's get to work," Rick says.
Beth's P.O.V
Beth walked into her office with Noah in her arms, biting her lip, but proceeding. Tara, Mary, and Gabriel sat around the room. Marry stood up after Beth walked in. "Why did you name him, Noah?" Mary asks as she stares at her nephew tenderly.
"After a friend of ours, a good man." Tara says. "Do you know his father?"
"He's dead." Mary says. "May I come closer?"
Beth looks at Tara who nods and Beth nods as Mary comes closer. She takes Noah's hand and smiles at him. "He looks good, healthy," Mary says. After a moment she lets Noah's hand down and looks at Beth and Tara. "Thank you for taking care of him. I'm glad he found good people to raise him/" Mary says as she removes a ring from her pocket, holding out to Tara almost shyly. "It was my sisters. Can you hold onto it and give it to him when he's older?"
Tara stared then nodded as she took the ring, Beth coming up and giving Noah to Tara, stating "I'm going to feed him," Beth nods as she hands him to Tara who leaves.
"You're talking like you're not going to see him grow up." Beth says making Mary look at her.
"Alpha and Beta are going to be after me, for betraying them. I'm being realistic. I don't care if I die, as long as he lives and you two live. He needs you more than he needs me," Mary says. "Thank you for letting me see him." She says before she leaves and Gabriel follows her.
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl, Maggie, Rick, Beth, Michonne, Negan, Carl, Enid, Earl, Ezekiel, Carol, Javi, Kate, Alicia, Shane, John, Madison, and Morgan stood around or sat in Maggie's office. "Alpha will hit us straight on." Rick says as he looks at the map of Hilltop, pointing at the open field where she was likely to attack. "We already have people building trenches in front of the gates and putting up a spike wall. That will hold her off for a little while but not for long. Behind the spikes will be the front line, Daryl and I will lead that."
"I don't think that's a great idea." Negan says making everybody look at him. "You two are public enemy number one in her mind. She takes you two out, she wins, she sees you there, she'll be sending everything she has at you."
"We know." Rick nodded. "That's the plan."
Negan looked at him in disbelief then looked around "Did he snap when I wasn't looking?"
"Shut up." Michonne says tiredly
"Alpha's injured and she's angry. She wants us dead, but she'll want to watch us die. If she reveals herself, we'll take her out."
"If you're about to say Lydia is going to be out there, your gonna need a wheelchair, not a cane."
Everyone paused, looking at Kate, who said "I don't give a fuck what I feel about her, I'm not having Lydia potentially see her mother killed in front of her."
Daryl smirks as Rick actually looked a bit worried. "She won't be, neither will you, Earl or you Carl."
Earl shrugged, then looked as Carl shot up in anger.
"What?" Carl snapped. "I should be out there. With you and Dad."
"You can't be. Rick and I might not make it out of there, you need to, which is why you, Arya, Earl, and Lydia will be keeping the kids safe." Daryl answered.
"You're putting me on guard duty?" Carl growls.
"He's right, son. You need to live." Rick tells him firmly, not budging on this. "You, Lydia, Arya, and Earl will guard the kids. We'll keep them in the basement, if it gets bad, you'll escape. Head to the Rally point and if no one's there, assume the worst. Head to either Richmond or Meridian. Everybody knows where we'll meet. Understood?" Rick asks his son who glared at his father, but looked down, relenting.
"Like Rick said, we'll lead the front line. The second line will be gunmen and archers on the roof, John, and Carol will lead that," Daryl says and the two nod. "The final line will be in Hilltop, they'll fight until we have to leave. Shane, Maggie, Negan, and Morgan will lead that." Daryl says.
Shane nodded, eyes fierce "Damn right."
"We're gonna lose a lot of people tomorrow. Some of us in this room might not make it out," Rick says after a moment of silence. "Make sure you don't have any regrets." Rick added before he leaves the room and slowly the others follow.
Charlie's P.O.V
Daryl walked up to Charlie and Rachel as they got shovels to help with the trenches, pausing to see him. "You guys done?" Charlie asks her adoptive father who nods.
"Yeah, we're done." Daryl quietly confirmed then looked a them both. "I need to talk to the two of you."
"About?" Rachel asks.
"I'm going to be on the front lines with Rick. Your Mom will be out there too. There is a chance neither of us step foot in Hilltop again. If that happens, you two need to get to the basement, get Ofelia and Merle, and the rest out of here and keep them safe." Daryl said directly.
"You know we will." Charlie says. "Please do your best not to die, we still need you."
"I will, do my best." Daryl says as he hugs her. "I love you."
"I love you too." Charlie muttered, then got the shovel and walked off, Rachel holding her hand as Daryl looked on.
Carl's P.O.V
Carl walks up to Earl as he was lighting the forge and passing a few final weapons to Kenneth who nodded at Carl. "Need some help?" Carl asks Earl who smiles.
"Yeah, get an apron on, Ken son, pass these out. They're a bit hastily made, but any bit of steel is better than none." Earl says and Kenneth nods as he heads off as Carl begins to help him.
"You okay?" Carl asks Earl, getting a spare apron, while Earl nods.
"I'm okay, just thinking," Earl says. "It's been a hard couple of months. For everybody and I'm ready for this to end. However, it does."
"We're gonna win," Carl said with certainty.
"I know you will, I just don't know if I'll be there to see it." Earl shrugged, causing his former student to look up in disbelief.
"Don't talk like that."
"I'm just being honest, kid." Earl said plainly. "I don't plan on dying, but if something does happen, you make sure those kids get out. They are more important than some old geezer like me."
Carl nods. "You're not just an 'old geezer' but...I will."
"Good man. Now come on, we can shape a few more arrows before the sun sets."
Eugene's P.O.V
Eugene slowly drives the truck through Pittsburgh. "Look at that," Jerry says as he points at a cop mannequin in the road. "Someone was here."
"They might still be here, keep your eyes open," Clinton says as they look around. They turn down the road and stop the car when they see a woman standing in the road holding an LMG and wearing a pink jacket, pointing right at them with a beaming smile. "What do you think?"
"Jerry and I will get out, but be prepared to fire." Eugene tells them and they nod as Eugene and Jerry slowly push their doors open. The woman stares at them as they shut the truck doors and walk to the front.
"Yooooooooooo. What's up?" She says with a grin.
Thanks for reading. Next chapter Eugene means Princess, Hilltop prepares for the battle as does Alpha and the herd shows up. As always suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.