Something was very wrong with Maggie, with the pregnancy. Isaac ran to get me and Rick at the front of the community, saying that she was clutching her stomach. She needed a doctor and the only person we had lived in Hilltop.

Rick chose to take the RV so Maggie could rest on the drive over to Hilltop, which allowed people to invite themselves along to help. Abraham, Sasha—apparently a couple now—and Eugene had already convinced Rick to take them with him. Aaron was the next one. That was alongside Carl and Isaac, who decided they were going before Rick tried putting a limit on who was leaving.

I saw Isaac standing near the back of the RV, leaning against the porch of the building it was parked next to. He straightened up when he saw me coming, his face contorting as he worked up the courage to argue with me, guessing what I wanted to say before I even got there.

"Don't fight me on this," he begged. "I was with her when she collapsed, I can't just let her go. I have to be there for her, make sure she's okay."

"I don't want to fight you, I want to come," I tell him.

Isaac went through a series of emotions, from being relieved that I didn't try to convince him to stay, to confusion and then to guilt as his hand came up to grip the back of his neck. "Rick said he wants you here, that he wants you in charge of this place while he's gone."

I glanced between him and where Rick was standing by the motorhome. "No."

"Yes."

"I need to be there for Maggie," I argued.

"Ace, everyone is gone," Isaac said.

I clenched my teeth. "You think I don't know that?"

"I have to go," he repeated. "You don't."

"It could be me," I said. "You could stay."

To stop me from arguing, Isaac stepped forward and kissed me. I gripped the shoulders of his coat, willing him to stay, to switch places with me so he wasn't out there if something bad happened. After a moment, he pulled away to catch his breath, his forehead resting against my own.

"Please stay," he begged in a whisper. "Please."

I squeezed my eyes closed and nodded against him, falling weak at the knees as his hand came up to tangle with my hair behind my ear. God, he was beautiful. I can't believe that all he had to do to win an argument was kiss me—I think that gave him too much power.

He let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you."

His fist tightened just slightly in my hair as he leaned down to kiss me once more, before finally pulling back far enough to resist the idea of staying. "Bye."

"Bye."

Isaac stepped back, walking backwards to the RV like he was trying to remember every inch of me before he had to leave. I kept my eyes locked with his until he finally had to turn around, giving Rick a nod as he passed.

Someone stopped beside me, but I didn't spare them a glance until he was in the RV. Martinez didn't even try to make fun of me or joke with me like he normally would have. Instead, he just gave me a look of understanding and a promise.

"I'll watch out for him."

I shot a glare sideways. "I should be doing that."

"Someone's gotta run this place, and I know you don't want that to be Gabe," he said jokingly, nudging me with his elbow. "You're better to us here. Someone has to keep things running."

"Better get going before Rick starts putting up more of a fight."

"See you later, kid." He placed a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it as he passed Rick to get onto the RV.

I heard more footsteps heading towards the RV and turned around to spot Carl walking towards the RV with a backpack over his shoulder and one hanging from his arm. Rick had sent him to the armoury for some things last I recalled.

His face was miserable.

"Carl!" I called after him. He turned around just in time for me to crush him with a hug. "Be safe out there."

"I will," he promised, pulling back from the hug. His eyes darted behind me, but I assumed he was just nervous about having to go out there with the threat of the Saviours hanging over their heads. "We'll be home soon."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

I gave a smile and shoved his shoulder a little, pushing him towards the motorhome. He carried the bags into the vehicle while his dad talked to Gabriel and Spencer, two people who I assumed were actually staying.

"Hey, Rick. If the Saviors do show up . . ." Spencer trailed off for a second. "I don't know, I'm thinking, if it's not too late, should we try and make some kind of deal?"

"Tell them to wait for me," Rick told him. "I got a deal for them."

Gabriel began to head down to the front, supposed to be on watch at the front gate now that everyone was leaving, and Spencer walked off in a huff. I took my turn to speak to Rick and walked over to him. He sucked in a breath and straightened up when he saw me coming like he was preparing for another fight. But I didn't try to fight him.

"You told Isaac to convince me to stay?" I asked, almost in disbelief.

Rick was quiet for a second, then nodded. "I thought if anyone could . . . But I do need you here, Ace. If Daryl hadn't run off and the others were still here, then I would have considered it. But you're the only one with experience leading now, and I need someone who can keep everyone in line. They're all on edge, they need someone here."

"I know." I sighed, crossing my arms. "I don't know that I like the idea of you being in cahoots with my boyfriend."

"It was a last resort," he promised with a grin.

My jaw jutted out as I wanted to argue with him some more, but I knew they had to leave soon. Maggie had to get to Hilltop and see a doctor, and I would be wasting time fighting this losing battle with him. I nodded my head to the side to tell him it was okay for him to go.

But Rick opened his arms, beckoning me into a hug, which I instantly accepted. This was a little waste of time that I found to be necessary for me to hold on to whatever little sanity I would have left by the end of the day.

When he pulled back, he turned to the RV and stepped up the first step. When the engine rumbled to life, I turned to walk away,

"Ace?" Rick called after me.

I turned back around to face him. "Yeah?"

He smiled. "Don't get dead."

Then he stepped into the RV.

Being in charge of an entire community felt like a lot of pressure when I had nothing to do. All of the walls were covered, and our escape plan was ready in case of attack. That's all it was for me, because if the Saviours came to the wall, then I would be the first person dealing with them.

I made a loop of the walls, checking each of the watchtowers to see if they'd noticed anything strange. Most of them saw nothing, some were using the walkers as target practice after making sure that it was still clear. Gabriel was on the tower we fixed up at the front wall, with Scott and Francine resting up nearby to open the gates for the others to come back.

Giving them a nod, I nervously walked over to Gabriel. We hadn't spoken since before he tried getting my people kicked out of Alexandria, and I wasn't sure how much I had forgiven him for that. He saved Judith in the herd, and he killed someone who tried to escape the Satellite Station. Honestly, since Reg died, he seemed to have a new opinion on our group.

"How's it looking out there?" I called up to him.

"Nothing yet," Gabriel said. "We remain vigilant."

"Yeah, that's the same for everyone." Which was good for us, very good. We had pretty open sights in most directions, and if the Saviours wanted to attack on the sides with the forest, then they couldn't get their cars through without being seen, which minimised the risk of the walls being rammed. "Who has Judith?"

"Olivia, she's offered to watch her the night, but once my shift is over, I'll keep her with me. Judith is my top priority in case of attack." He looked over his shoulder to offer a smile for that.

"Eyes on the roads," I reminded him. "And thanks, I can watch her myself if it comes down to it."

"You may have to take a night shift on watch with everyone gone," Gabriel denied with a wave of his hand. "If not, one of us watching her gives you a chance to rest up anyways."

I gave a nod and a thumbs up to say I understood. There was a slim chance of me sleeping before Glenn came back with the others. I had been planning to see Judith, too, before I got too busy checking up on everything.

Before I could say anything, the radio sparked to life on my holster, static filling my ears.

"Ace, you there?" Abraham asked.

I grabbed the walkie-talkie and pulled it up to my lips. "Here."

"We got some Saviours on the road blocking us."

"Where are you?" I turned to the map on the table, following the road they should have been taking to Hilltop, the one we took last time, stopping my finger where Abraham told me on the long road with woods on one side and a field on the other. "How many are there?"

"Eight," Abraham said. "And someone on the ground, not a Saviour. Prisoner maybe. Rick says we aren't attacking them here. Heading out to talk to 'em now."

"Let me listen in."

"You got it."

Gabe sent a look down from the top of the watchtower as if to ask what was happening, giving a thumbs up with a questioning look to see if they were okay. I held up a finger in return, telling him to wait until I found out more from the talk.

I missed a part of the conversation during the silent discussion and tuned back in when Rick said, "We can make a deal right here, right now."

"That's right, we can." The voice was barely audible, and I didn't recognise who was speaking. "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."

It was the same deal they wanted from Daryl, Sasha and Abraham when they stopped them on the road. But why were they doing this to every group they came across? Likely a power move to assert dominance. However, from what I could see at the satellite station, they didn't have many crop plots or food growing, which would imply that they needed food from the other communities.

"Yeah . . . that deal's not gonna work for us," Rick told him. "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 man didn't sound rattled at the implication. "Sorry, my deal is the only deal; we don't negotiate."

"Me and my people are leaving."

"Okay, friend. Plenty of ways to get to where you're going."

I straightened up.

They must have known where the group was going; they were already waiting off one of the roads, and there was a good chance they blocked off more. The RV didn't have the fuel to keep taking detours to get to Hilltop.

I went to talk to them about it when Rick spoke up once more. "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 . . . just like that. Be kind to each other. Like you said . . . like it was your last day on Earth."

There was a long pause, and I assumed that they were done talking. After a few seconds, when I was certain that they were back in the RV and out of earshot of the Saviours, I pulled up the radio to talk to them. "I don't like this, maybe you should come back."

Rick had the radio this time. "We need the Dr. Carson."

"I can go, just me," I said. "I can stay off the roads and bring him back."

"Nobody else leaves. Be prepared, if they know what roads we have to take then they might have found out where Alexandria is," he denied. "Maggie is getting worse, we can't wait any longer. Are Glenn and the others back yet?"

I felt my chest physically constrict at the question. "No."

"Wait for them; let us know when they come back. Glenn needs to know what happened, and when he finds out I'm gonna need you to keep him there, okay?"

"Fine. Keep me updated."

"Will do."

The radio cut out on their end.

"What's happening?" Gabriel called from the top of the watch tower, keeping his eyes on the walls.

"Saviours stopped them on the road, eight of them. They just talked and tried to make a deal, but they wouldn't go for it," I called up to him.

"Didn't Jesus say they sent out groups of 20?" Gabriel asked. "Must mean we made a dent in them to see such a small number."

I clenched my teeth and held back the condescending tone. "It's not a small number. When we met Jesus we only had three people spare for a run. The fact that they can send out eight is still better than us. Besides, they could be saving the bigger groups to attack here, or they have more planned for Rick."

"They could be trying to make us lose our nerve, draw more people out."

"Which isn't going to happen; nobody is leaving," I repeated Rick's orders. "Daryl is getting a bollocking when the others bring him back, but nobody is leaving until we know more about where the Saviours work and how many people they have."

I sighed, shaking my head.

"I'm going to storage to get a spare map and take a look at the gun book," I said. "Once I'm done checking on Judith, I'm going to start marking down where we've seen the Saviours. If anyone needs me, I'll probably be working on that in Aaron's garage."

"No problem," Gabriel said. "We'll keep you posted."

Turning around, I made my way to the storage room where we still kept most of the guns. After we raided the Satellite Station, we had so many guns that even after arming every watch tower with guns and ammo, we still had a full room spare.

The moment I entered the gun room, I noticed the cupboard that was being held closed with a chair in front of the door. Adrenaline charged through me as I considered all the possibilities that someone had put a chair against a door, and the only word that came to mind was: kidnap. What the hell happened here? My heart was racing as I neared the door, pulling my gun out just in case something happened. I pulled out my gun and pulled the chair back before opening the door.

Enid, who was sitting on the ground, immediately jumped to her feet and bolted out of the cupboard, looking at me with a glare. Instead of saying anything, she passed me and walked to the window, looking outside.

"They're gone, aren't they?"

My brows shot up. "What?"

"Carl locked me in here so I wouldn't leave to help Maggie," Enid snapped. "Did he tell you to wait for them to leave before letting me out?"

"Fuck me, I just came down here to check the log book and I wondered why there was a chair in front of the door," I said. "I thought a Saviour got in and tied someone up or something stupid, Jesus Christ."

"He didn't tell you?" She asked.

"It hurts that you think I'd have left you in there this long." I turned away from her, looking at the book which now told us where all of our guns were, studying it. "Rick wanted me to stay here in case someone attacked. They got in the RV and left. Carl just said goodbye." My eyes rose to the ceiling in thought before I shrugged. "Though, he did look guilty, now that I think about it."

Part of me assumed that would be the end of it, that Enid would storm out of here pissed off at me and Carl, but I could hear her breathing behind me, the rustle of her fabric as she crossed her arms. "I wanted to go with Maggie."

"You're not the only one."

When I looked over my shoulder to meet her eyes, she loosened up a little, her arms falling back to her sides like she was empathetic at my statement. I wasn't looking to build that kind of connection, more just validating that she wasn't the only one who felt left out.

"You couldn't have gone . . ." she trailed off. "I mean, if this place gets attacked, then we need someone here with the experience to help deal with it, strategise. You—you're good at it. What am I going to do when they get here?"

"Follow the plan, it's the best thing any of us can do." I closed the book and straightened up. "It's the only way we know where everyone is, how we keep everyone safe."

"Yeah," she agreed with a sigh. "Do we know if they're okay?"

"They've come across one group of Saviours already, but nothing happened."

She sighed and nodded and turned for the door. "Good."

"Enid?"

"Yeah." Enid stopped in the doorway.

"Don't be too mad at him . . . he was probably just trying to keep you safe."

"I know."

I was standing on the porch of my house when the next static came through my radio. Moments before I was inside playing with Judith just to see her for a moment, and the second I stepped outside and said goodbye, Abraham cut through the white noise.

"Ace?"

A sigh escaped my lips, and I squeezed my eyes closed, pulling the radio to my mouth. "I'm hearing a lot of your voice today."

"It looks like they chained walkers across the road, no people this time. Rick and the others went to take them out and clear the road so we could get by. We took a detour up to Old Church Road, see if we can't get around these assholes."

"And I'm guessing the verdict is no," I said.

"If we can clear the walkers from the road, we should be a-okay," Abraham argued.

I shook my head. "But for how long?"

"Hold up, kid. I think they noticed something . . ." Abraham trailed off, and I held my breath, waiting. "One of the walkers has one of Michonne's dreads pinned to its hair, and holy shit, I think those are Daryl's bolts—"

The unmistakable sound of gunfire shot down the radio so loud that I flinched. "Abraham?!"

"They're firing on us!"

The radio went silent, and I knew they were all fighting to get out of what was now clearly an ambush. Were they shooting because Rick didn't want to make the deal? In all honesty, with them blocking off the roads and the scare tactics of shooting and showing off the number of fighters they had, it seemed more like what happened at Terminus, where we were being led around.

But they had Michonne's dread, Daryl's bolts. They must have gotten to them first, and now there was no way of knowing if any of them were even alive anymore. Did that mean they had Carol or Morgan, too? Rosita?

Glenn . . .

My hands were shaking, the radio jerking back and forth as I fell backwards onto the porch step. My head fell in my hand as I fought the urge to run to the nearest car and chase after them. We need people here, I kept telling myself. We need people here, we need people here.

"Fuck!"

I didn't look up when I heard footsteps approaching.

"What's happening?" Spencer asked.

Taking a deep breath that steadied me, I said, "They keep getting stopped by Saviours, and there's a chance they've kidnapped the group that went out after Daryl."

"And we're sure we couldn't have made a deal?" I was shaking my head in my hands, silently willing him to stop talking. "You know attacking them was the wrong move, but you did it anyway. What happens if they die out there?"

"Get out of my face," I said in my most menacing voice.

"We can still make a deal," he continued like I hadn't even spoken.

I stood. "If you're suggesting what I think you are—"

"We can tell them it was all Rick's doing, that we didn't want it, and the rest of us wanted to make a deal," Spencer cut me off. "They may spare the rest of us. If they see that we aren't going to be a threat to them, they might back down."

Gripping the radio was the only thing that stopped me from swinging on him or pulling out a weapon. "You listen to me, I don't give a fuck what you think. I will not sit here while Negan and the Saviours kill my people and then make fucking deal with him. And if you so much as suggest sacrificing everything we've fought for then I will slit your fucking throat."

I didn't have to raise my voice; the look on his face was enough to know that I had rattled him. But he didn't argue with me like I thought he would. He stared at me in silence, and his jaw set. "You still call them your people."

"The only one that doesn't fall under that category right now is you, and it stays that way until you can grow the fuck up."

"I can't be the only one here that thinks talking to them is the best option," he said.

"So talk to them," I told him. "Give them your brilliant fucking idea, everyone fucking knows that I won't let that shit slide." I started heading towards Aaron's garage, and when I was standing beside him, arm to arm, I stopped. "And just remember, I'm the one with the fucking bombs."

Since I wasn't expected to watch any time soon, I did what I told Gabriel I was going to do and began walking towards Aaron's house. With all the radio chatter, I could use this time to write down where the Saviours seemed to be attacking or guarding. If I was right, then maybe we could use that as a way to avoid them if they started becoming more dangerous to the whole group.

They were bound to find Alexandria eventually, right?

I opened the garage door and stepped inside, dropping the radio on the workbench and began rifling around for a pen or pencil I could use to map out the areas. Once I found one, I pulled out the stool to sit on.

The radio crackled up again before I could get to work. "Ace?"

My hand snapped out to grab the walkie. "Isaac?"

"Everyone's okay here, nobody got shot."

I breathed out, squeezing my eyes closed. It was a few moments before I realised I hadn't actually answered him, so I pressed the button and choked out, "Good, that's good. Are you okay?"

"I've stayed with Maggie most of the ride, just stepped out now to tell you what's happened," he answered. "I'm okay."

I was nodding, even though he couldn't see me. "How is Maggie?"

"Getting worse."

A breath shot out of my nose; I don't know why I was expecting a different answer. Denial was probably the only thing getting me through this day.

"It's weird, you not being here," Isaac said after a moment.

"Yeah, it's weird for me, too," I agreed.

We sat in silence again, and I assumed that the conversation was over now that he had told me what happened after the shooting started. I was just glad to know that everyone in the RV was okay, even if they were still being led around by a group of sociopaths.

"I should go back with Maggie, make sure she's okay." There was another brief pause before Isaac spoke again. "And Ace? I just—I wanted to . . ." He trailed off, and I could hear a faint sigh. "I'll see you soon, okay? Promise."

"See you soon," I answered.

But my mind was reeling. What was he going to say before he cut himself off? If it was what I thought it was, then part of me wished he'd told me because a dread was starting to settle in my chest that he wasn't going to be able to keep his promise. Something felt very wrong about today.

Guessing that I wouldn't be hearing from them for a while, I decided to see if I could guess where the Saviours would be waiting for them. I took out the map I got from storage and a sheet from an old newspaper that had been shoved aside long ago.

The night was coming soon, so I turned on the oil lantern Aaron must have left in here for me before searching for the newspaper page with the least amount of black ink covering the page. Last time we wrote Alexandria down on a map, it almost led people directly to us. I wasn't going to let that happen again.

I held the map up parallel to the flame, putting the newspaper page in front. I copied the box around the map onto the newspaper so I'd be able to line it up again before I traced a pencil down the paths Rick and the others had taken since they left earlier. They stopped on the main path we took to Hilltop, before Old Church Road. If they were heading North to go around the Saviours, the next road they would get stopped at would be Parkgate.

Once that was all drawn out over the newspaper, I plotted the train line where Daryl said Denise was killed because that meant Saviours could have been patrolling that area too. Then I marked the motorcycle gang that stopped him, Abraham and Sasha, when they were trying to get back to Alexandria during the herd.

"More people on the road," Abraham said as the radio crackled to life.

"There he is!" I couldn't help the small smile, knowing I'd be hearing from him as soon as they reached another blockade. I followed with my finger to the next detour they must have taken to end up at another blockade. Even if they wanted to get around the Saviours, they still had to get Maggie to Hilltop soon. "How many are there?"

"My guess is thirty. Parkgate."

I couldn't even be happy that I had predicted it. "Fucking thirty?!"

"Fraid so," he said.

"This is fucking bullshit."

"Way I see it, we're already ahead of the game. Just gotta keep our heads in it."

I took a steadying breath, shaking my head. "If you say so."

"Talk to you soon, kid."

"You too."

The next blockade they came across was a road with tens of cut-down logs piled up in the middle. Martinez told me that the person the Saviours had beaten on the road earlier was now hanging from a bridge of a motorway above them as the same man from before taunted them away.

And now they were running out of options.

I was getting bits and pieces of the conversation as they tried to let me know what they were planning. They were doing the same thing I was, working out the distance they could travel with the fuel they had and weighing that up over the time it would take to get Maggie to a doctor.

"There are two more routes north from here," Sasha said.

Aaron was next. "They're probably waiting for us right now."

"So, they're ahead of us, probably behind us," Eugene said after a pause. "But they're not waiting on us, per se; they're waiting on this rust bucket. And they don't know the moment-to-moment occupancy of said rust-bucket. And the sun sets soon."

I clenched my teeth, my head falling in my hands as I realised Eugene was the one offering to risk his life and drive the caravan around to throw the Saviours off their trail. If that was going to work, they'd have to fill the RV with the rest of the petrol so he could drive around and avoid drawing suspicion. The plan might work; they might get Maggie to Hilltop, and best of all was that Eugene could die, and at that moment, I wasn't allowed to be happy about it.

Waiting for the sun to go down in the garage was exhausting because once the plan was in motion, nobody had any reason to contact me until they were finally going to try and carry Maggie the rest of the way.

I looked at my haphazardly drawn map a little longer before laying my head down on the table, staring at the radio that flickered with an orange backlight from the lantern. My chest was tight, and I tried to stop the guilt of the fact that I felt absolutely nothing at the idea of Eugene getting himself killed because at least it wasn't going to be anyone else.

"How you holding up, kid?" Abraham asked through the walkie-talkie. "Eugene is gonna leave with the RV soon. Just wanted the chance to say goodbye before I put you in there so he can tell you where any Saviours are at."

"Do you have to?"

Abraham laughed out loud. "I do apologise. But he is doing this for us so we can get Maggie to Hilltop."

I felt the sudden wave of reality wash over me again. "Yeah . . ."

"You okay?"

"No," I choked off, wiping the corner of my eye with my palm. "Everything is getting fucked up and Spencer has pissed me off and nobody is here."

"When the world goes to shit, you don't need a plan, you need people crazy enough to stand their ground. That's you all over." Abraham spoke with a calmness I hadn't heard from him in a while, a tone that reminded me of when he gave me my first beer. "And kid, you're about as subtle as a dick in church, but you've got good instincts. Don't let those mother dicks push you around."

I laughed through the tears. "Thanks, I guess."

"No problem." There was a pause before he said, "Okay, shit's about to get biblical. Good thing I've always been good at taking things head-on."

"Just try not to get shot."

"Bullets take one look at this magnificent bastard and change direction. You have nothing to worry about." I was glad that when Abraham had the option of keeping his mouth closed, he chose to open it. "See you 'round, kid."

"See you around."

And then it was back to waiting, back to silence as they put the walkie-talkie in the RV for Eugene to let me know where the Saviours were working. I wasn't even sure how long I sat there, doing nothing, before I chose to look at the map again.

Taking everything I'd known, I guessed that they had Brookville to Aden road on lockdown. Based on what Abraham had been saying about the numbers, they still had spare for a power move like this. I don't even think the attack on the Satellite station made a dent in their numbers because they were still so confident in sending thirty men to just sit on a road.

I guessed that the bigger road, the 28, would have been unguarded because taking that path to Hilltop would have put us so far out of the way that even considering it now seemed stupid. But it was so obviously the right path now.

Just as I was about to relay that information, the radio awoke once more. "Ace? Are you still there?"

Eugene.

Fuck, I wanted to ignore him. But there was a chance these were going to be his last words and no matter what I thought about him, I had to respect that. He was risking his own life for the first time since I'd known him, and he was doing it for my family.

"I'm here," I squeezed my eyes closed, realising I was too late. "You're in Brookfield now, yeah?"

"Yes, I am, and I think this is my last stop." He went quiet for a moment, and I thought it'd be best not to say anything. I sat up straight as Eugene continued, "I would like to say it has been a pleasure to have known you. And I know you can't say the same thing back, so let's just leave it at that. Goodbye."

"What's happening?" I released the button, but only silence followed. "Eugene?"

I wanted to know how they had stopped him, if it was a physical blockade or people—if he was really out of options. Maybe there was a chance he could ram through or swing the RV back around fast enough that he wasn't going to get ambushed.

But he stopped answering, and I think the Saviours had gotten to him before he could do anything about it. As much as I had wanted something like this to happen, being on the other end of it, being the only person someone has left before they die, was still a jarring experience.

I waited a few more minutes in silence before trying to reach out to him again, hoping he wasn't responding because he was driving. "Eugene?"

"Eugene can't come to the phone right now."

The new voice came down the radio in a sickeningly sweet voice, immediately trying to toy with me. I swallowed as I stared down at the radio, my fingers tightening on the device. I felt my skin pale as I tried to decide whether I should even bother answering.

"Hello, hello? Coulda sworn I heard a voice just now."

Taking a breath, I began to mutter out a string of curses before I finally answered. "Where's Eugene?"

"There she is! I was starting to think you'd gone shy on me." He ignored my question or didn't hear it. It was hard to tell the difference when I couldn't see his face.

I racked my brain at the kinds of information I could try and extract from this Saviour asshole, thinking of ways to ask the questions that may trick them into giving away numbers or locations. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Oh shit, where are my fucking manners? Here I am chatting up a lady, and I haven't even introduced my-damn-self. Please, allow me the fucking pleasure of introducing myself properly." This guy liked the sound of his voice, playing up every sentence for dramatic effect. After a pause, he said, "I'm Negan."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, you and every other dickhead."

"Oh, no. I'm the real fucking deal—wait," he cut himself off. "Hold the fuck up. What did you just say?"

"What?" I snapped.

"That last word. Say it again."

I was shaking my head, thinking back. "What? When I called you a dickhead?"

"HOLY SHIT!" Negan's loud laughing over the radio. "Is that—? Are you fucking British? Like actually proper tea-and-crumpets British? Oh, this is too good. This is too fucking good! Rick's got himself a British spy! God damn! Didn't think I'd be chatting with James Bond tonight."

Of course.

No matter how dire the situation was, no matter what was happening there was always some dick who would be more invested in my fucking accent. I tried taking a breath, grounding myself so I didn't shout out a string of insults that could put my people in deeper shit.

"Scottish," I gritted out.

"What?"

"Bond. He's Scottish."

"Well, fuck me sideways, she's a movie critic too! I like you already. Almost makes me feel bad about what's coming." He paused for a beat. "Almost."

His threat reminded me why this conversation had started in the first place. "Where's Eugene?"

"Eugene's fine. Well, fine-ish. Scared shitless, but breathing." He seemed as uninterested as I felt. "But forget about him, I want to know more about you. How the hell does Rick end up with Mary Poppins in his corner?"

I didn't have the energy to think of a funny answer to his setup. "Go fuck yourself."

"Hot damn! Listen to that proper accent telling me to go fuck myself! You hear that, Si?!"

There was a muffled sure did in the background over the sound of an engine.

My mind was still focused on Rick and the others who fled the RV to get away from the Saviours. Hearing his name made me realise that Negan wasn't trying to interrogate me, wasn't trying to find out where the rest of my people had gone. Hell, he hadn't even acknowledged that they weren't in the RV. Which meant that he already knew where they were, and he was probably going to ambush them like they did with Eugene, which was going to be a lot easier now that they were on foot.

But there was a chance that if he kept Eugene alive, then Rosita, Daryl, Michonne, Glenn, they were all alive. In fact, the Saviours had only ever said they were going to kill one person. And that's what this was—they were going to kill someone.

I shot to my feet, grabbed the yellow backpack with bombs inside and burst outside, turning the corner and sprinting down the street towards the armoury. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, pushing me faster as I ignored the looks and calls I got from everyone I passed by.

"Darling, you still there?" Negan asked.

I snapped the radio up to my mouth. "Where fuck are my people?!"

His tone took an immediate turn, the sharpness making my whole body go tense. "Now listen here, sweetheart. I've let a lot of shit slide in this conversation, but you better start watching the way you talk to me."

Squeezing my eyes closed, I slammed my fist on the wall of the building. After a shuddering breath, I repeated the question in a quieter voice. "Where are my people?"

"That's better. And don't worry, you'll be seeing your people soon . . . most of them, anyway."

I went inside, almost kicking open the armoury door to start gathering machine guns and ammo, things to arm my people when I got to wherever he was keeping them. If Rick and the others ran into the forest, then he might be ambushing them in the woods.

"Letting that sink in?" He asked when I didn't answer him. "That's okay, I'll talk while we wait. I have some time on my hands. You know, normally I'd be okay with being the one that does most of the talking because, well, I like the sound of my own voice. But I have now realised that the only thing I like more than the sound of my voice is the sound of your voice. It is the funniest fucking shit I've ever heard. I can't tell whether you're actually mad or if that's just the way everything comes out. And you are probably one of the only people who can rival the amount of cursing I do in a day."

I shoved handguns in my backpack to the point where I could barely carry it anymore and then turned to the bigger guns. Anything with a strap that I could hang over my shoulder, helping me carry as much as I could to arm my people when I arrived to save them.

Then I took off for the cars which were down by the front gate.

"Sorry, I had to knock some sense into my driver. He's not used to manoeuvring something so fucking large. Guess swinging around his huge dick wasn't enough practice." I cringed as I turned the corner right towards the gate. "But hey, I get to kick back and relax for once, so what's a few bumps and scrapes?"

Silence followed again, like he was waiting for an answer from me, but I wasn't focused on him anymore. My chest was burning as I ran towards the front, where Gabriel was still on watch with Scott and Eric, who must have taken over for Francine.

"Open the fucking gate!" I yelled, sprinting for the first car.

"Ace?" Gabriel turned to face me. "What is it?"

I frantically tried to explain what was happening as I approached, my sentences coming out in ragged bursts. "It's Negan! He has Eugene. I need to . . . I have to go after them and see if I can stop him from killing somebody."

I yanked open the car door and pulled the guns from over my shoulder, shoving them in the back and grabbing a machine gun for myself to put in the passenger seat. My backpack followed it, landing with a thud in the footwell.

My rambled yelling was enough to make Gabriel come down the ladder, and Scott opened the gate cover to keep an eye out instead. "Negan, are you sure?"

I nodded, my hands on my thighs as I panted.

"Oh my God, Aaron . . ." Eric turned to me. "Are they okay?"

"For now, I think. But I've mapped out all the places they've been waiting, and I think I can go around to the 28 and attack them from the South." I pulled the map from my pocket, realising they couldn't see anything through the newspaper, so I took a step back and held it up to the headlights. "They got jumped on these marks, I can get around them and help."

Gabriel inspected the map for a moment before saying, "I'll come with you."

"No," I denied.

"You need help," he argued.

"We still don't know if this is a ploy for them to attack here, so we need the numbers. I've killed groups like this on my own before. And Spencer—" I swallowed, shaking my head as I tried to suck in a full breath. "He wants to make a deal if we die out there; he wants to say the attacks were all on Rick. I need someone else here."

"Spencer said that?" Scott asked.

I nodded.

"Then I'll come," Eric demanded.

"Me too," Scott said. "Gabe can keep an eye on things around here."

"No!" I snapped. "Open the gates, now!"

"Ace, we have to think about this—"

"You still there, sweetheart?" Negan's voice cut Gabriel off, and everyone looked at the radio on my belt.

I clenched my teeth, gripping the device in my hands to answer him. "You told me to watch my attitude."

"I appreciate it, especially after what I just told you. That shit can't be easy." We all waited to see if he'd continue. I held up a hand for them all to keep quiet. "Let me ask you something. Were you at the satellite station?"

I paused but answered honestly. "Yes."

"You were there for that beautiful bloody massacre? Then you know how many people died, what went down. That shit ain't right. Though, I gotta admit, hearing you admit to murder with that fancy accent of yours is doing things for me."

My nose wrinkled at the comment. "I'm seventeen, dickhead."

"That's . . . well, fuck. I got no excuse. That's my bad, that shit's on me." He seemed genuinely apologetic for a moment before he started talking again. "Still, I'm a reasonable person, but I was not going to stand back and watch you fuckers slaughter my people without doing something about it."

"Your people started it on the road," I told him.

"And you people got your revenge for that, blowing those fuckers up. But then you kept going, didn't you?" I couldn't even argue with him because it was the exact point I made to Rick when he offered to help Jesus at the Satellite station. "Now I'm not going to do what you fuckers did. I'm not going to kill everyone. And afterwards, I do have some conditions that I will explain to your people. I'm sure they'll relay any information."

I turned back to the car, throwing an arm in the direction of the gate. "Open it! This shit ends now!"

Negan was still talking as I sat down in the car. "You should feel so lucky, I don't normally have a way to tell anyone's groups what's going on."

"Why are you telling me?" I asked as I sat down in the car.

"You seem important. Does Rick leave you in charge or something?"

"Something like that."

"Smart man. Nothing says 'don't fuck with us' like having a teenage girl who sounds like the Queen running things. I respect that kind of crazy."

I held up the radio to Gabriel as Scott and Eric opened the gate to indicate he was still talking. I couldn't let Negan hear the engine without him finding out that I was coming after him, so I waited for him to finish. I could feel it coming to an end, though.

"Well, this has been delightful, really brightened up my whole fucking day. But I got places to be, people to meet, assholes to kill. You know how it goes. Might want to stay far back, way outta the splash zone if you get my meaning."

"If you hurt them—"

"Oh, honey. That ship has sailed, crashed, and fucking sunk into the ocean. But tell you what, because you've been such entertaining company, I'll make sure to give them your regards before I start. That's what you Brits say, right?" I clenched my teeth as he finished. "I'll be seeing you around, sweetheart."

Then I slammed my foot down and raced out of the gates.

I followed the map, taking the path we would have regularly taken to get to Hilltop before turning right to avoid travelling down to where the Saviours had blocked off all of the roads. I squinted as I tried to keep my eyes on the road with the headlights off, not risking being seen from a distance.

When I made it to the turning for the 28, I picked up speed. A pothole could probably kill me if I hit it hard enough, but I didn't turn the lights on. I just had to sit forward and keep the wheel as straight as I could, following the white lines down the road.

I can save them, I told myself. I'm going to save them.

I'd taken out large groups of people before, and I was small enough that I could get through the woods without being seen. I just had to navigate the way Daryl taught me, keeping my steps quiet and my body low to the ground.

I'll kill every last one of them.

There were no blockades, no cut trees or chained-up walkers, no people to stop me. I was right, I found the way around them.

The radio started up again, and Negan's voice came through so much clearer than before. "Hey, darling. I know that's you coming down the 28 to save your friends, being all heroic and shit, so I'm gonna give you once chance to stop that fucking car."

No, he couldn't know. How could he know?

I put my foot down, and the car lurched faster, definitely risking crashing into the old cars and rubble that had built up as the area fell into disrepair.

"Don't make me kill another!"

Another.

He already killed someone. No—he could be bluffing, trying to get me to stop when I was so close. Because I was so close, the radio was so much clearer that Negan's tone actually sent a chill down my spine.

But I didn't stop, I couldn't lose my nerve. Not now. I was going to kill every last one of them if it killed me. I was going to make them pay for everything they had put us through. That was until he began to speak again.

"Five . . . "

"Fuck!" I slammed my foot on the break, and the car screeched to a stop as Negan continued his countdown.

"Four . . . Three . . . tw—" There was a pause, probably when the lookout told him I stopped. I could hear his smile over the radio when he spoke again. "Good. Now, if I see that car move again, if you so much as get out before I'm done here, I'll kill everyone in this line-up, starting with the kid."

My eyebrows knitted together as I looked around, turning in my seat to see if I could spot anyone. That was when, in the wing mirror, I saw it. Lights flickered on and off between the trees on the side of the road, laughing at me, taunting me.

"You thought you could save them. You can't save anyone."

And he was right.

Negan had killed one of my people, and I didn't know who was dead. All I could do was sit there and wait, praying that it was only one person like they kept promising. My whole body was quaking with the effort it took to hold my sobs as I was left to my own imagination of what happened.

Not knowing was the worst part . . . Carl was still alive, right? He said if I moved, he'd start with the kid. But the others, Abraham, Martinez, Aaron, Sasha, Rosita, Michonne, Daryl, Maggie, Rick. Glenn. Isaac. My throat constricted at the idea of it.

Everything seemed to hit me all at once.

"NO!" A strangled cry left my throat, unable to keep it in anymore. I stamped my foot in the well, my body jerking and my knee hitting the hard plastic under the dashboard. The more I swallowed down the sobs, the more nauseous I felt. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

My eyes slammed closed to block out the view of the flashing lights from behind me, my hands covering my ears to block out the sounds of my own screaming. This was the beginning of the end, we had to give all of our things to Negan just like Hilltop had been doing.

I couldn't save them.

I couldn't save any of them.

By the time dusk broke, I was all cried out. I was exhausted, my eyes burning as the sky grew lighter. I pushed the seat back as far as it could go to sit more comfortably and hoped that sleep would consume me, make however many hours I had left in this car go by faster.

But I couldn't sleep.

I sat motionless in the driver's seat, my head leaning back against the rest in an awkward position I wasn't entirely sure how I maintained. My skin was coming back to its normal colour, if not a little pale—not the same red that it flushed during my hysteria.

The bang on the window didn't even startle me—I'd seen the walker coming from a mile away. But there was nothing I could do. Negan said he'd kill someone if I got out of the car, and I didn't want to risk opening the window to gun it down. It pressed against the glass beside me, its nails scraping horribly on the window.

My movement was slow as I sat up straight, reaching for my knife to open the window and kill the walker, but the second I touched the handle, a gunshot rang out, and the walker beside the car flung to the side. It was one of them, the Saviours hidden amongst the trees, watching me.

They did that all night, waiting for any walker that came near to be in my line of sight before shooting it in the head. Always the head. It was another power play, a way of telling me that if I tried to get out of the car, the same thing would happen to me.

My chin dropped to my chest, and I leaned forward in the seat, resting my elbows on my thighs. I deserved this. We got too cocky, too confident after surviving the Wolves and the herd, and we bit off more than we could chew. Negan and the Saviours were never going to lose this battle.

I should have known that.

Negan's voice came through the radio one final time. "Hey, darling, we're done here. Your friends will be coming up on the 28 to meet up with you, and boy, do they have a story. I'll see you in a week."

My head raised from my hands.

Seconds after that call came through, the car that had been hiding in the trees pulled out onto the road. The horn blared out, and one of the men hung out the windows, making faces as they drove past, flipping me off.

I didn't dare move from the car.

Returning to the same hunched-over position as before, I waited for Rick and the others to come and find me like Negan had said. We got our revenge for them stopping Daryl, Sasha and Abraham, and then we kept killing his people.

I didn't move until I heard the rumble of an engine, and I looked up at the same time my hand found the AR in the seat beside me. Was it them? Negan told me that my people would be coming this way, but there was no way I was going to believe him.

But through the window, I saw the caravan, the silhouettes of my people in the front seat. The RV door opened, and Rick stepped out to meet me, his eyes red-rimmed and his hair dishevelled and curled from a cold sweat.

As I stood up, he turned back to the RV and waved for the person in the front seat to drive on and go back to Alexandria. When he closed the door, the engine rattled, and the caravan began to move. I tried making out the faces in the front, but I couldn't see through the light shining on the glass.

I turned back to Rick for answers, but he didn't even look at me. I could see now in the light of the new day that there was blood streaked on his face. He looked awful, which led me to wonder why he didn't just immediately take the group back to camp when they found me.

Something was wrong.

Someone was dead; I knew that much. But I had been sitting in denial for so long to keep myself from breaking down that I made myself forget how bad finding out the answer would be. I swallowed down the lump in my throat, refusing to take a step closer until he told me who.

"What happened—?"

"I'm sorry," he cut me off with a choked whisper, his hand covering his mouth.

Rick brought a hand up to wipe down his mouth before his hand fell back to the side and his eyes met mine for the shortest of seconds. My eyes became wet, and my lip quivered. I wanted nothing more than to run over there and hug him, make it better, but I feared I was the one who was going to need help.

"Rick . . ." Please don't say anything.

The silence was breaking me piece by piece, and the longer it went o,n the more I thought that there were names I could stand to hear come out of his mouth. It was horrible, but there were deaths I'd be able to survive. But the opposite was true as well, and some of their deaths would kill me.

Rick said one of the latter.

"He killed Glenn."

Sorry . . .