I was in the apartment with the kids. Dad and Rosita were at work. Sophia was shopping with Carl. Maggie and Glenn were in a meeting with some Pamela woman and a man named Hornsby. It was a Saturday so RJ didn't have school, Hershel wasn't enrolled and Coco was obviously a baby.

"Ellie, can we go to the park?" Hershel asked.

"I don't know this place, kiddo. I don't wanna get us lost." I answered, making them breakfast. RJ and Hershel were playing a board game while Coco was on some baby mat on the floor.

"I know the area." RJ stated.

"How about we just wait for Sophia and Carl to get back?" I suggested. "For now? I'll just feed you food. You can't tell me food isn't the best thing in the world."

"Food isn't everything, Ellie." RJ smiled.

I smiled back. "That's because you've never been in a situation where you've had to wonder where your next meal is coming from. That's a good thing, but maybe you should start appreciating food more. Not only does it taste amazing? But, it fuels our bodies with all the good stuff we need to live."

"You mean nutriance?" Hershel raised his eyebrows.

"You mean nutriance?" I mocked him under my breath in a high pitched tone. 

RJ laughed. "Hah, I'm her favourite."

"Actually Teddy's my favourite." I responded, starting to put the scrambled eggs on plates.

"Hey, that's mean!" RJ sulked. 

"Food's ready." I distracted them.

"Yay!" Hershel called. 

He and RJ ran over to the dinner table. I put the two plates of food on the table before I walked over to Coco. I'd been warming her bottle at the same time so when the microwave pinged, I grabbed it before sitting on the sofa. I began to feed her the bottle when I saw RJ guzzling his eggs. "RJ, slow down, little one."

"Sorry, big one." He responded with his mouthful. 

I smiled softly before looking down to Coco who was staring at me with her big eyes. "Hi, baby." I whispered to her.

"You know she can't reply with a bottle in her mouth." Hershel told me.

"No, shit, Sherlock." I sarcastically responded before remembering I was talking to a seven year old. I looked up to him. "Sorry... Forgot you were... You."

"Shit." RJ grinned.

"Well, dad's gonna kill me." I told him.

"I won't let him, Ellie." Hershel smiled, raising his arms to "show off" his biceps. 

I fought the urge to tell him that I'd seen stronger pancakes. "Thanks, kiddo."

After feeding all three children, I put Coco down for a nap. I was playing Twister with Hershel and RJ. "Okay, RJ, left foot red." Hershel told him.

"But my left foot can't reach red." RJ pointed out, trying to reach the closest red dot.

"Then you lose." I laughed triumphantly as he fell. Both RJ and Hershel watched me with sulks as I laughed. "I beat you both. You're both losers. Suck on that, kids." I grinned, walking over to the kitchen and grabbing an apple to eat.

"You're a sore winner." Hershel stated.

"Yea." I scoffed. "It brings me joy, kids. One day you'll both me taller than me and will beat my ass at that game. I'm gonna bask in the glory while I still can."

"That's not fair." RJ frowned.

"Why don't we see if you two beat me at hide and seek, huh?" I suggested.

"Yes, you always lose hide and seek!" Hershel grinned.

"Yes, I do." I nodded. "Okay, I'll count to ten and close my eyes." I closed my eyes. "One." I said, hearing the patter of little feet. "Two." Then I heard a door close. I knew it was Sophia and my door because of the specific squeak it made. "Three." I said, walking over to the sofa. "Four." I picked up a book. "Five." I flicked to my chapter and began to read. "Six... Seven... Eight... Nine... Ten. I'm coming to get you, boys!" I called, taking another bite of my apple and getting comfy to read my book.

After twenty minutes, I did locate my boys and they were gutted. However, they said that I passed the time limit so I still lost. I still wanted to kill their energy so that I didn't have to take them to the park, also Coco was awake. So, we needed to be entertained somehow. I had decided to put a Spice Girls CD into the CD player. Wannabe was the first song that came on.

"Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want." Hershel mouthed along.

"How do you know the words?" I asked.

"Dad's a fan." Hershel admitted.

I laughed as Hershel continued singing along. I held Coco on my hip as we sorta danced around the living room. RJ was jumping all over the place, as was Hershel but he was singing along to every word. I couldn't help but laugh and smile at the young boy.

Suddenly the front door opened. "Carl, Sophia, get over here!" I called to the door that was around a corner so I couldn't see who came in. "Glenn's a Spice Girls fan!"

My back was to where they would enter the living room. However, RJ and Hershel could see it. Their body language instantly changed when they saw who entered. They appeared scared. They basically shut down as they took a couple steps back. I furrowed my eyebrows and turned around to see four people in the guard uniforms. "Ellie Dixon, Hershel Rhee, RJ Grimes, Socorro Espinosa." One of the men listed everyone in the room. "Yea, they're all here." He continued. He must've had an ear comm in or something.

I stepped back, passing Coco to Hershel while I stood in front of all three of them protectively. "Boys, go back to where you were hiding." When they didn't move, I repeated myself. "Now, go now." I ordered. They'd been hiding on the fire escape outside mine and Sophia's room. All I could hope was that they would run if shit went down. That's what Hershel and RJ were brought up to learn. They entered the room and shut the squeaky door behind them. "Can I help you four?"

"We need you and the children to come with us." Another man stated.

"I want my father and my cousin. They work with you? Daryl Dixon and Rosita Espinosa." I told them, grabbing a pocket knife from my waistband. 

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way." Another guard said.

"Or my way. You all die." I corrected.

One of the guards raised a gun at me, repeating. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

"My way it is then." I muttered, raising  my pocketknife and throwing it so that it landed blade first in the barrel of the gun. I ran at the first guard and snatched the gun, but not before hitting his neck with the butt of it. The only weak spot on these guys was the neck considering they were plaid head to toe in the uniform. In one movement I removed the knife from the barrel. The other three raised their guns at me. I shot two in the neck before throwing my knife at the forth so that it stabbed his neck. I went to the first guy and stood on his neck. Considering he was already struggling to breathe, this seemed harsh. "Why did you want us?"

165.

"O- or- orders." He managed out.

"From who?" I yelled, pointing my gun at his head.

"Please-" He tried.

"From who?" I repeated, removing his mask and touching the barrel of the gun to his forehead.

"I can't-" He started, but someone's voice interrupted.

"Ellie?" It was Hershel. 

I turned and the sight made me sick to my stomach. Hershel and RJ stood in the doorway. Both boys had guns to their heads, curtesy of two soldiers. A third was carrying baby Coco. "Let them go or I shoot your boy!" I yelled at the guards.

"Let him go or the kids die!" Another man demanded.

"Let them go! They're kids!" I raised my voice.

"And that man who you're pointing a gun at has kids!" The other guard chimed in. "Let him go and we can go peacefully! Put the gun down or the boys die!"

I looked to Hershel, then Coco, then RJ before I threw the gun to the other side of the room and raised my hands in the air. A forth guard entered the room. He grabbed my wrists before bringing them behind my back and using zip ties to keep them together. "Move." He ordered, forcing me to walk. The other three guards walked with RJ and Hershel as we moved through the building and onto the street. We didn't go onto the main street though, we moved through alleys. The three guards started taking RJ, Hershel and Coco to a different truck than me. 

"No, wait!" I screamed. "Where are you taking them? No! Don't separate us!"

"Ellie!" Hershel cried.

"Ellie, help us!" RJ called out to me.

I was forced onto a truck by myself and the door instantly locked and shut behind me. I managed to get my wrists down the back of my legs and I stepped through them so my hands were in front of me. I tried prying at the door, but it was locked. "Shit!" I yelled. 

I began biting at the plastic that was around my wrists, when that didn't work... I tried something else. I out stretched my arms, before pulling them towards me as hard as I could, pushing my elbows in opposite directions. It worked! The plastic snapped! I tried everything to get out of the back, but it didn't work. 

The truck was on the road for ten minutes before something happened. I was thrown to the floor. There was a loud screeching sound as the truck flailed all over the road before rolling onto its side. I hit my head, but I was okay. The back of the truck was suddenly pulled out. I groaned, and didn't see who was grabbing my arm as they pulled me out.

The sunlight momentarily blinded me but gun shots snapped me outta it. "Second time I've saved you now, Ellie Belly."

I groaned at the voice and the nickname. "Negan." I pushed his arm off me.

"Ellie, oh my god." Sophia pulled me into a hug.

"Thank god you're safe." Carl let out a breath.

"Who's going after the kids?" I asked, pulling back from Sophia.

"What?" Carl furrowed his eyebrows.

Horror took over me. "The other van. RJ, Hershel and Coco are in it!"

"We just saw you getting dragged into this one, we didn't bother with the other." Sophia panicked, running her hands through her hair.

"Fuck, okay. We gotta go now if we're gonna catch up." I looked down the road to try and see them.

"The other van went in the opposite direction." Negan stated.

"I didn't even know you were watching them. We thought Ezekiel was." Carl pointed out.

"No, I told him I'd take them." I answered, noticing the car they got here in. "We need to take this car and go."

"No can do." Negan said. "You hear that?"

"They're coming after us." Sophia realised, hearing the sounds of distant engines.

"I'll draw them away. You three go after the little ones." Negan told us, chucking Sophia the keys.

"You'll need the car to draw them away. It'll be safer for us on foot." Sophia denied, handing the keys back. 

"We need to get them fast, though." I argued.

"We need to be smart about it." Carl shook his head.

"And we're trusting Negan to cover us?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Right here." Negan deadpanned.

"Unfortunately, I'm aware." I responded.

"Hey, I've saved your life twice now so you might wanna start treating me with a little respect." Negan argued.

"You know who else saved my life? Abraham. You know who brought us to Alexandria? Aaron. I'll start treating you with respect the day that they're alive again." I hissed.

"We don't have time to argue." Sophia pointed out.

"Okay, you kids go." Negan started backing towards the car while me, Sophia and Carl began to head into the woods to our left. "Cover your six!"

"And you!" Carl responded as we picked up the pace. The sounds of engines getting louder. The sounds of engines that would be chasing Negan.