Last Day On Earth, Part 4: Start.

-Mikey-

Rusted metal digs against Mikey's back, a damp chill has settled into his fringe, the smell of smoke plagues the air outside the dark van he's stowed in.

The others are here too, but Mikey can't see them. It's hard to see a past the tip of his nose.

Glenn gives Mikey his jacket when he can feel his body shivering beside him in the cramped space. Mikey wraps himself deep into the jacket's creases, thankful that he's half Glenn's size, able to tuck his knees inside. He stares up at the only light source they have where sunlight is fading fast, four bullet holes in the van's doors.

-Carl's POV-

"Carl!"

I rush from my room and to the stairs, running into my dad halfway down.

"What is it?" I stare at him. "Is Rhys back?"

Dad glances down at the steps, his hand tapping restlessly against the banister as he shakes his head and shatters my hopes. "Maggie," he says instead. "The baby's coming."

"What're we gonna do?"

"Get your stuff and be at the RV in ten. We're taking her to Hilltop."

Enid is waiting for me outside the armoury, chasing me down the cobbled steps when I stride past.

"I'm coming," she says like it's decided. I shake my head and fling open the door, marching into the armoury and stuffing a couple of handguns into my rucksack, the one Rhys left me when he left among them.

"No," I tell her firmly.

"Glenn and Rhys still aren't back. I need to be there for Maggie."

"I said no!"

"Carl!"

"You were wrong before," I say, whirling around to face her, setting the bag down and glancing towards the clock hanging on the wall above her head. "What you said when the wolves hit us. This place isn't too big to protect. And you need to stay back and help protect it."

"This place is ready," Enid scoffs, watching me as I grab a rifle off the wall before scooping a bunch of ammo boxes up and dumping them into the rucksack. "Most of us have been trained. You know that. If you were worried about an attack, you wouldn't be leaving."

"Do you even— do you know how far the Hilltop is?" I ask her, grimacing when my stutter decides to appear. "You know what could happen?"

Enid watches me, not cutting me off like I thought she might.

"Those S— Saviors are out there," I tell her, putting the now heavy bag over my shoulders. "You know what they did to Denise, what they did to Mikey. Everything they tried to— to do with Maggie and Carol," words get caught in my throat, dry and sickly. "What they did to Rhys."

Enid keeps staring, letting me finish. I barely ever stutter anymore. Without Denise around there's no one to talk to about it. Somehow, when they do come back, the person most tolerant of them is the person it happens the least around. Enid just waits.

"To Daryl, to Rosita, to Eugene. That's— t—that's not happening to you, all right? I'm not going to let it."

Enid walks over to the weapons bench, looking over the guns laid out as I load my own.

"You want to run into them, don't you?" Enid looks me up and down like a puzzle she's found all the edges to, everything starting to make sense, but she just can't seem to fill in the picture. "You hope they show up..." She trails as she puts the last pieces together. "Jesus, this is about getting Maggie to a doctor! It's not about..." she shouts at me, her eyes wet when I don't react. "Screw you, I'm going."

"Enid, stop!" I snatch a pistol up before she can. "Just wait for—"

"Get out of my way," Enid hisses, snatching the gun from me, not waiting for my stutter this time. But I don't move. "Carl!"

"Just grab some more pistols from the closet," I finally point to the far corner of the room. "But hurry. We've gotta go now."

She follows what I tell her, going in and opening a footlocker of handguns on the floor. I slam the door on her, shoving a chair under the handle fast just before she starts banging against it.

"Carl!" she yells my name over and over, the barrier between us keeping her safe. Keeping me from losing one more person. When the banging stops, her voice gets softer. "What if you don't come back?" she sounds like she could be crying, but I can't know. I can't find out.

"You're right," I tell her, pressing my head to the door, watching her shadow move under it. "It's about getting Maggie to Hilltop... I'll do it for her." I push my gun into its holster, put on my hat and turn away from the closet door. "But if we do run into Saviors... I'll kill them. I'll do that for Rhys. For everybody that they've hurt."

Enid's voice comes from behind me, husky and faint. "You, Mikey, Rhys... what if you don't come back? How am I supposed to live with that? What the hell am I supposed to do?"

"Just survive somehow."

Her banging goes from distant thuds to silence as I leave.

When I reach the RV, the others are already on board. Abraham in the driver's seat with Sasha beside him on the passenger side, her hand tapping impatiently against her leg. Aaron is waiting in the bedroom at the back with Maggie, just like he had with Eric the first time we arrived in Alexandria. Eugene is sitting at the RV table, tying his mullet back into a tidy ponytail. Gabriel's talking to Dad outside. After boarding, I hover by the door and watch Gabriel speak.

"We have twenty-four-hour shifts set up on each of the watchtowers, each one of them fully supplied and ready. In the case that we're incurred upon we have drivers assigned, evacuation and distraction, and the rendezvous we discussed. In the event of any emergency, my first priority is Judith. I will not fail you." Gabriel pauses. "Are you comfortable leaving me in charge of Alexandria's defences?"

Dad smirks, looking down and nodding. "Yes," he tells Gabriel with utter confidence in his voice as he brings his head back to meet the father's eyes.

"Hey, Rick!" Spencer yells, jogging up on the RV and catching Dad before he gets in. "Mikey's still not back," he pants, out of breath. "The Saviors, they might have..." Spencer stops. "If the Saviors show up... I don't know— if it's not too late, should we try and make some kind of deal?" He's clearly got his little brother on his mind, the concern he's showing almost out of place with how admirable it is.

Dad winces at him. "Tell them to wait for me. I got a deal for em'."

Once he shuts the door, he glances around. "Enid not coming?" he asks.

"Decided to stay back," I lie, finding it easy considering what we're about to try.

Dad nods. "We'll need the numbers here."

"Let's get this show on the road, people," Abraham calls back to us. "Hilltop ain't gettin' any closer."

The roads seem to get bumpier the further from Alexandria we travel. At some point, I take Rhys' gun out of my bag, fiddling with it before tucking it under my belt, my own gun still snuggly in its holster. I guess it just feels nice to have something close.

Maggie is doing her best to rest as she stays in bed at the back of the RV. Aaron comes out of her room and I give him my seat, following Dad to the back when he goes to talk with Maggie. I stand in the doorway, watching the two.

"We're gonna get there," Dad tells her, his back to me. "The doctor at the Hilltop, he's gonna make things better."

"How do you know?" Maggie's voice is worn, fluttering on the edge of tears. Dad starts to stroke her hair when she looks away.

"Everything we've done... we've done together," he tells her. "We got here together and we're still here. Things have happened but it's always worked out for us 'cause it's always been all of us. That's how I know." He nods at her, I can't see if he's smiling from behind, but I choose to think that he is. "'Cause as long as it's all of us, we can do anything." The southern twang I've inherited jumps from him on the last word.

Maggie's eyes flicker over dad's shoulder and up to me, her smile slipping into uncertainty.

"It's not all of us," Maggie says, still looking at me.

"Rhys and Glenn," Dad whispers, taking her hand, "they'll be here when they need to be."

Maggie nods. "So will Michonne," she tells him when he lets go of her. "They all will."

"What the bitch?" Abraham grunts, slowing the RV with squeaky breaks.

Dad puts down a bottle of water he was giving Maggie and makes his way up to the front of the RV to check on the situation. I follow closely.

"What?" Dad asks, only to see it the second he reaches the driver's cabin.

"Enemy close," Abraham nods to what lies ahead. Three cars. All of them put together at an angle so the RV can't pass. There's a group. I quickly count nine, but Sasha from the passenger seat corrects me with eight. They're all armed, and there's a body at the guy standing front and centre's feet, purple bruises from a beating we missed. I can't tell if he's alive.

"Saviors," I whisper to the back when Maggie asks what's happening.

"We doin' this?" Abraham asks Dad, curling his finger on the steering wheel. Sasha, flicking the safety off on her rifle, nods. I realise I'm nodding too.

"No," Dad pushes off the seat to stand from leaning over the dash. He flings the RV door open and steps out. Abraham puts the RV into park.

Eugene's the first to follow Dad out. Then Aaron, Sasha, Abraham, and me. All with our guns ready. Dad puts his hands up, holding his AK in one.

"He's someone who was with a whole lot of someones who didn't listen," the front standing Savior shouts, kicking the body's foot. This particular Savior has a thick moustache, bushy and drooping past his grin. He wears a tight short-sleeve shirt tucked into his pants. Two belts are strapped around his waist, a knife and gun hanging from one. His hairline sits far back on his head.

I see the body by his feet twitch. Alive.

"We can make a deal," Dad speaks to the obvious threat. "Right here, right now."

"That's right, we can. Give us all your stuff. We'll probably have to kill one of you. That's just the way it is, but then we can start moving forward on business. All you have to do is listen." The lead Savior talks with a jolly inflection, like it's all a game that can end at any time.

"Yeah..." Dad puts his hands down. "That deal's not gonna work for us. Fact is, I was about to ask for all of your stuff... only I'm thinking I don't have to kill any of you. Any more of you."

The guy on the floor groans as one of the Saviors starts shaking a spray paint can, drawing an orange X along the guy's chest.

Dad glances back at the rest of us. There's an empty field spanning off to our right. Thick forest hanging a brush over the road to our left.

"Sorry, my deal is the only deal," the moustached Savior shrugs, seemingly unfazed. "We don't negotiate."

Dad nods, bringing a hand up with two fingers to signal us to fall back. We do, and he tells them, "Me and my people are leaving."

The Savior in charge waves at us over his head, smiling wide. "Okay, friend! Plenty of ways to get to where you're going."

Dad stops by the RV door, glancing over his shoulder at them. "You want to make today your last day on Earth?"

"No. But that is a good thing to bring up... think about it. What if it's the last day on Earth for you? For someone you love? What if that's true? Maybe you should be extra nice to those people in that RV, 'cause you never know..." He snaps his fingers. "Just like that. Be kind to each other. Like you said... like it was your last day on Earth."

I watch as Dad grinds his teeth, getting on the RV.

"You do the same."

A/N

It all kicks off next chapter.