Chapter 166-Preparations
Eugene's P.O.V
Eugene and Princess look at Lance as he sits down in between Mercer and Regina, both looking annoyed but he ignored them both. "I've been listening to this from outside on the other side of the mirror." Lance says. "Your story interests me, Eugene and so do your people. Daryl and Rick sound like great leaders."
"They are." Eugene nodded, his eyes widening with hope. "Does that mean you're willing to help us?"
"I am." Lance says with a smirk. "I think we both can really benefit from each other. Your people and my people can help each other. I mean your leaders build the new world but mine, they build the old world in this world, both are amazing accomplishments and I think if we bring these two worlds together, we will make the world a much better place," Lance says with a grin. "How does that sound to you?"
"Very good." Eugene says.
"Great!" Lance says as he claps his hands.
Mercer cut in "Director, we can't move such a sizeable force without word from the Governor."
Lance nodded, still smirking "Yes General, I understand. Ok let me talk to our leader but Eugene. We're going to save your people. I promise you. This is the beginning of something great. We are going to remake the world Eugene. No. we're going to make it, better. Hang tight. See them back to their friends, Mercer." Lance says before he leaves the room and Mercer looks at Eugene, face tight with annoyance at being overruled but clearly a man of duty...so he nodded.
"Come on."
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl stood in one of the rooms staring out the window to the woods, keeping watch. "You okay?" Alicia asks as she walks up to him.
"I'm alright." Daryl looked at her firmly. "You know you're not fighting right? We're going to put you with the kids."
"I know." Alicia sighed, Daryl relieved she wasn't fighting this. "I'll be safest there and so will the baby."
Daryl wrapped an arm around her softly. "This is almost over, Alicia. We're going to be okay."
"How do you know that? Alpha could kill us all."
"She won't. We did good in Hilltop, we took out a lot of walkers. The next time Alpha attacks us, it will be the last time, we're going to kill her." Daryl tells her. "Then we're going to make sure you and the baby are alright."
"Okay." She nodded, but then they heard a knock on the door panel, turning to see Rick walk inside, face determined.
"We're ready."
Rick's P.O.V
Everybody stood in the corridor besides June, Negan, Edwards, and Kate, stretching backwards. Almost 200 overall filled the hallway as Rick stood on the stairwell, compared to the 700 at Hilltop. Rick grimaced, hoping that some at least headed to Alexandria, the Kingdom, or lying low. "This is where we are going to make our last stand!" Rick started as he sets a map of the hospital down in front of him near Daryl and Morgan, the three bent over. "Alpha's biggest advantage on us is the remains of her herd. We're going to force her to come after us."
"How?" Aaron asks, gesturing around "We gave her hell at Hilltop, every inch. But she just kept coming!"
"The walkers can't climb up here." Daryl says. "We're going to make a chokepoint here, just like I did against Beta. It was only him and the Whisperers. We were able to beat them."
"That doesn't mean this is going to be an easy fight, Alpha has dozens of people, I imagine she'll also get a couple of walkers up here." John stated.
"How do we deal with the herd? Even if we kill her up here, that herd will still out there trapping us." Gabriel stated.
"We planned for that." Rick nodded.
"There's a car, on the road outside the woods. We'll use that to lure them away, lead them off a cliff." Daryl pointed.
"That's a suicide mission!" Mary says.
"It's risky, that car won't make the entire journey, they'll have to be lead after a while." Rick shook his head.
"I'll do it." Strand says making everybody look at him. "I'll lead the walkers, I know how to."
"Are you sure?" Daryl asks Strand who nods. "Alright, after we kill Alpha and Beta."
"Beta? He should be dead, he got a piece of a fucking flaming roof roof dropped on him!" Arya incredulously shouted.
"I know, we all know, but he came at Michonne and Judith. He's alive, weaker, but he is still alive." Alden says.
Then Rick saw Lydia come forward, but her face had nothing but steel "I have an idea to thin them out."
"...Go on." Rick asked, uncertain, him and Daryl trading glances.
"Put your best sharpshooters and bowmen near the roof or around it. Two teams. Me and Mary be the spotters for each one. We'll point out whose a Whisperer and start thinning them off so none can lead the herd afterwards."
At that, Arya quietly asked "You sure?"
Lydia just gave her a steely glare in response, causing Arya to nod.
"Once we kill them and the Whisperers. Strand leads the herd away, we'll do our best to help him, but he'll have to do most of it alone cause Mary and Lydia will be with the snipers." Daryl says.
Rick then said "This is it, we don't have any moves after this. Either we die in this hospital or the Whisperers do. One of us aren't walking out of here, we don't know when Alpha is going to hit us. Until then we prepare, we block the stairs, make sure they are only narrow enough for people to get up. Once Alpha gets here we'll hit them as they climb stairs. pick them one by one!"
"That's the plan, once we get this place secure, rest. You're going to need it." Rick says and they all nod as they disperse.
Alicia's P.O.V
Alicia walks into the makeshift hospital room where Negan was lying down in and looks at June, washing her hands with a worried look. "How's he doing?"
"He might live, with better equipment. But everything I need was at Hilltop or Alexandria now. What we have here will help his pain and help him heal a little bit, but if he doesn't get some better medical help within the next few days, it'll get worse." June tells Alicia who nods.
"Kate know this?" Alicia asks June who shakes her head.
"I haven't told her yet." June says. "I'm going to go and talk with her, you mind staying in here with him?"
"I'll stay. Kate's up on the roof, she's going to be with the Sniper team." Alicia says.
June raised an eyebrow "Is she also there to make sure Lydia doesn't go with Strand?"
"Probably." Alicia lightly smirked as June walked out, her smile dropping as she sat in the chair next to him...seeing Negan's chest wrapped in bandages.
"Pretty bad, huh?" Negan asks Alicia who looks at him.
"You'll be okay." Alicia assured.
"I wouldn't be so sure." Negan coughed. "But I'm not a priority. Making sure you guys make it out of this hospital is."
"There is only us. Not just you and Us." She shot back. "We're going to make sure you get out of here as well."
"I hope so." He replied, laying back and looking back at that ceiling. "But if it's between me and you, you save yourself, Alicia. You don't risk your life and that baby's life for me. You already did that, not again. I need you to promise me you won't try and save me if it means you'll be in more danger."
"I can't do that, Negan."
"Please," Negan says as he takes a deep breath. "I once told Sherry, that I was on a clock and it was counting down to zero, maybe it's getting pretty close now or maybe it's not. But if it is, that's okay, hell maybe it's long overdue karma. Cause I would rather die than see you get hurt." Negan takes her hand. "You were one of the first people to give me a chance, Alicia. You have never judged me for my past. I love you more than I love myself, and you need to live so please, promise me you won't risk your life for me. Please."
Alicia nods as she wipes a tear from her eyes. "I promise." Alicia says and he nodded, coughing again and grimaced.
"It hurts like a motherfucker."
"Get some sleep," Alicia tells him and Negan nods as he closes his eyes.
Lance's P.O.V
Lance stood inside of the Governor's office as she walked inside, face stern "Well Lance?"
Turning he smiled at Pamela Milton, the Governor and leader of the Commonwealth, stood in a dark red suit, a coat over her shoulders. Always with an air of authority, her blond hair short with a lined face and severe features.
"Yes Pamela?" Seeing her face, he waved it off "Oh relax it's just you and I in here."
"Is this about Captain Regina's old community?" Pamela asks Lance who nods, knowing it still grated her that Regina never told her or anyone about where she came from.
"Yes it is. I'm telling you Pamela, this is it. This is how we expand the Commonwealth even farther." Lance grinned at her.
"I got the rundown from General Mercer. It sounds like those people are going to be wiped out by this Alpha woman. Why risk our soldiers for them? Why risk the safety of the Commonwealth?" Pamela asks as she sits down.
"Did he mention the leaders, Daryl and Rick?"
"A little, what does that have to do with this?" Pamela looked at him sternly.
"I talked with Eugene a little more before I came here. I wanted to learn more about them and their people and their strength alone is worth it. They have taken on herds, with just the weapons on their hips, one's bigger than the ones our men take on with guns. They have fought out a lot of large groups, from warlords to raiders. These people are strong Pamela, they will make the Commonwealth even stronger. With them and our army, nobody will be able to threaten us, nobody anywhere." Lance says. "You've said on many accounts that you want to make the Commonwealth stronger, expand it, retake entire cities. This group is how we do that, I know it, so let me do it, let me lead it and I promise you. There will be amazing results."
Pamela stares at him for a moment before she sighs and nods. "Fine, Lance. You can take Mercer, Regina and however many men you want, but know this. If this fails or falls through or we lose more men than it is worth, it is your title on the line, it is everything you have worked for on the line. Are you willing to bet that?" She finished with a firm warning.
"I am." Lance shrugged easily, his coin flipping between his fingers. "Cause I know I am right."
"Go talk with Mercer." Pamela says and Lance grins as he leaves the room.
Alpha's P.O.V
Alpha walked up to Beta as he paced between the trees, seeing some of the regathered Pack survivors watching this with a wide berth. "No one can know." He mutters. "No one can know."
"Beta!" Alpha barked making Beta look at her at once, bowing his head for a bit, Alpha seeing half of it covered in burns. But it seemed Beta was using the Rage to fuel himself.
Good. Life was Pain and Sacrifice.
"He saw your face, the one they call Negan, the one they Feared." Alpha says and Beta clenched his fists with a feral stare.
"No one can know."
"It doesn't matter that he knows, you will kill him tomorrow night, they will all die in that hospital." She hissed at him to calm him "We have them cornered, now it is time to kill them all. We will hit that hospital from every side and they will not leave alive. No one will know who you are after tomorrow, I promise you."
"I will kill him myself." Beta gripped his knives tightly, blood seen coming down.
"Yes you will, and I have a special assignment for you. You will kill Daryl Dixon, make it painful and make sure he walks with us. I will do the same with Rick Grimes. Is that Understood?" Alpha asks Beta who bowed his head. "Good."
She looked around and said "Gather the remaining Guardians. We have them cornered like rats, now we go in for the kill!"
Carl's P.O.V
Carl sat on the edge of the roof watching the woods, looking to see other snipers around him setting up posts.
"This feels familiar." Carl turned and relaxed as he sees his father as he walks up beside him and sits down.
"It feels worse." Carl says. "We've lost a lot of people in the last couple of months, but losing Earl. It feels different."
"You loved him." Rick said warmly. "You shouldn't have had to shoot him, Carl. You shouldn't have had to shoot Lori. I wish I couldn't been there to shield you from all of it and I couldn't and someday I won't be here to try."
"Dad-"
"Carl that's the truth. I can't say I know what you are feeling right now, because I don't. I can't imagine the pain, what I can say is that this fight isn't over, and as much as I wish we could sit here forever we can't, because we have to win. If we don't Earl died for nothing, everybody who has died to Her, died for nothing, we have a job to do and we do it and after it's done. We mourn the dead," Rick tells his son who as he stands up and holds his hand out to Carl. "So let's get ready. Let's finish this. For Earl."
"For Earl," Carl says as he takes his father's hand.
Eugene's P.O.V
Eugene sat with the others, Arthur pacing back and forth while Althea twisted her hands, clearly worried for her wife and son. "You think they are going to help?" Frankie asks.
"I don't know what we will do if they don't." Eugene answered but they saw Lance walks towards them with Mercer and Regina behind him. He opens the door to the cage and smiles at them. "Get ready ladies and gentlemen. We're going to save your people."
Thanks for reading. Next chapter the group makes finale preparations for the fight. Alpha marches on the hospital and the battle begins. As always suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.