⚠️ Warning: Before you read this chapter, just know that you will be seeing my special SKULL divider a lot because I have to cut it all up until Negan arrives — like cut-scenes... Anyways, enjoy! All the love .xx ⚠️

~ ~ ~

"Are you sure that you want to do this, Izzy?" I asked her, stroking her long hair and trying to find her eyes.

She finally looked up into my dark orbs and nodded, reassuring me. "Yes, I do. It has to be done and I've become a really good shot recently, thanks to Carl."

"It's not that I don't believe in you, kiddo," I sighed and looked away for a moment. "It's just that... I don't want you to get hurt, y'know? You're all that I have left."

She actually smiled and placed her hand on mine. "And you're all that I have left, too."

— THE FIRST DAY —

Dwight was about to leave again. He had came here to warn us that Negan was coming to Alexandria today with three trucks and at least twenty Saviors, maybe even more.

Dwight presented his plan to Rick and them last night before I got here. He suggested we attack Negan and his crew while they're in Alexandria. From there, Dwight can radio the Sanctuary and let them know everything is okay. The Saviors there will be caught off-guard when we ride in, using the Saviors' own trucks. Once inside, we can rally the workers to their cause, take down the Saviors and destroy their other outposts one by one.

Rick apparently agreed to that and that's why Dwight was about to leave again, to help both sides in a way. Before he could leave, though, I asked Rick to leave us alone inside the empty house for a moment. Rick agreed and left us in there alone.

I slowly approached Dwight, seeing how he was now out and free from that cage. He handed my soft pillow back to me and smirked. "Thanks for, uh, the pillow. It helped."

"No problem," I said and held the pillow in my arms. "I can't believe that you're going again."

"I gotta help you guys. You know that," he reassured and shrugged. He was somewhat biting his bottom lip, too. "Plus, I'll come back. Eventually, I promise."

I took a brave step forward and was almost body-to-body with him. "You promise, hm?" I was eyeing him suspiciously and he noticed, nodding. "Don't leave me, D, not like I did with you."

"Yeah, about that," he sighed and looked down for a moment. "I was worried... About you. Didn't know where you went off to."

Somehow, I was brave enough to extend my right arm and place my hand around his elbow. Our eyes were into each other's and the moment was getting even more intense by the second. "I didn't mean to, but... I had to come home. You know that. This is my home and I'll never leave, not if I can help it."

"I'm glad that you're safe, Tess," he suddenly said and began to leave. I don't want him to leave, though. I don't and it kills me that I feel this way, too.

He got to the door before I reached out and stopped him from leaving. The door was still shut, as he didn't get there in time, and I placed my right hand on his chest while I let go of the pillow to drop to the ground beside us.

I cocked my head to the right side and somewhat whispered up to him: "Don't die out there today, alright?"

"Oh, you're worried?" He smirked and it made my legs weak. "Didn't know you cared."

"Yeah, well, I do," I countered and my left hand snaked its way up to touch his arm. "I don't want to see your dead body out there because... I'll have to bury you. I don't want to do that."

"Don't worry about me, Tess," he reassured and smiled back. "I'll be back, but, uh... Don't miss me too much, eh?"

"Miss you?" I tried to laugh it off, but it was true that I was going to miss him. Hell yeah, I was gonna miss him like fucking crazy. "As if."

He licked his lips, tempting me, and remarked: "I know you'll miss me, but it's cool 'cause I'll miss you, too."

I studied his lips for a moment and stated: "Don't die, D. I mean it."

"As long as you don't, I won't, either," he breathed out and it made me reconsider. Does this mean that he would die without me? Huh...

Without another thought, I launched myself up until my lips touched his. I placed my hands on the sides of his head, where each piece of his hair was slipping through my split fingertips. Both of his hands had traveled down to my ass, which he was obsessively touching, but I didn't mind.

I had crashed my lips into his like it was a head-on car crash. I didn't care because I really liked how his lips tasted against mine and how his tongue danced around on my mouth as mine did in his as well.

Our eyes were closed and focusing only on our kiss, of how we never wanted it to end. It could be like this everyday, my mind told me. Just you and him. He could be your Prince Charming.

Then again, it couldn't be like this everyday — not if he's going to leave us everyday to act like a Savior. I wouldn't allow myself to get that close, anyways... Even if I'm already wrapped around his little finger and he may be wrapped around mine, too.

Alas, the kids had to be broken apart before he doesn't leave at all because I would allow him to take me all around this world... Without even leaving the bedroom. We broke apart as my hands slid down the sides of his face and we both tried to catch our breaths.

"I just... I just didn't know that you really did have a weakness for men with scars," he confesses before I could get a word out.

"And I didn't know that you had a weakness for really broken women," I countered and he glared at me. "That's exactly what I am."

He stepped forward, filling the space between us once more, and said: "I don't care about that because it doesn't matter what has hurt you... I'll fix it for you. Whatever it is, Tess. I'll fix it for you."

Before he could reach out for me, I jumped away and shook my head. I turned my back on him, so that I wouldn't have to see him leave. Why was I allowing myself to get close to him like this?

"You should go," I gulped and nodded, trying to assured myself more than him. "Before they get suspicious, that is. You should go."

"Tess..."

"I mean it," I spat out, keeping my eyes closed and my back to him. "Just go, but please come back."

It was dead silent for a minute, but I soon heard him whisper, "I will," before the door opened and closed behind him.

My heart broke when I heard him leave as I may not get to see him later. I told Glenn that I would see him later, but yet, I didn't. I could be scrapping Dwight's body up later, but I don't want to do that.

It's just really hard to believe that I had started to fall for the man with the permanent burnt mark across his face. More than that, though, because I had also started to fall for the enemy that I had set-out to kill once upon a time.

"Are you sure that we can even trust these people, Rick?" I asked of Rick about the people that he recently became friends with. They were currently strolling inside of our gates. "I mean, you said that they came from the trash."

Rick shook his head and said: "We have to trust them. We need all the help that we can get."

I get where Rick was coming from. Really, I do, but... These people came from the dump and were now just strolling in a caravan of garbage trucks and bicycles. At least, they didn't need to use gas for their bikes, but they were just a little bit too insane for my taste.

They stop to unload from the back of the trash trucks, all wearing similar colors of dark blues and blacks. One lady, who had a very unusual haircut, began to make her way towards us, mostly eyeing Rick. "What you fight for," she said after glancing around the place.

"Not the place. The people, each other," Rick claimed, glancing at myself and Michonne, who stood by him. "You're a part of that now."

I couldn't tell if Jadis, I remember Rick saying that her name was, was impressed or not. Instead, she rehearsed: "We take. We don't bother. Our way. Maybe another way." Then, out of completely nowhere, Jadis motioned towards Rick while looking at me with a smirk. "Yours?"

I didn't understand what she was asking, but she was hinting if Rick and I were together or not, I think. "What? No. No, not us. We're not together," I told her and stepped back, allowing Rick and Michonne to fill my gap.

Michonne quickly took over and explained: "Yeah, we're together."

I was honestly about to walk away and allow them to talk it out while I got ready, yet I heard Jadis say something and I nearly broke my neck to come back to hear the rest. I heard her say: "I lay with him after." What the fuck?! "You care?"

Michonne thought it was a joke, but soon found out that Jadis wasn't playing around at all. So, Michonne's face dropped and she decided to say instead: "We should get back to work."

Rick began to slowly back-up while blinking frantically and breathed out: "Yeah..." I began to back away, too, before all three us ran away from her.

"What the hell was that?" I asked them while I walked in the middle of them, shaking my head and blinking like Rick just was doing. "I mean..."

"Stay away from her," Michonne warned, glaring over my way. "And, if you were to have a man, Tess, I would recommend you keep him away her."

I sighed and shook my head, looking ahead, and countered: "Well, good thing that I don't have one, I suppose..."

I didn't like these trash people already. From Jadis' remark about sleeping to Rick till now while they watched Tara and I set-up a blockade outside the gate.

I was looking over my shoulder at one of them until I heard Tara say: "You wanna move this car?" I slowly snapped out of my trance with the Scavenger, now looking at her and she noticed what I was doing before. "What? What is it?"

"These... people," I hissed and gritted my teeth. "I don't trust them."

"Why not?" Tara asked, shrugging. "They all may be a bit insane in a way, but who isn't now?"

"Insane isn't the problem, T," I countered and shook my head again. "They're just... They just don't seem so trustworthy. What if this comes back and hits us in the face later?"

She slowly put her head to the side and studied me, somewhat trying to hide her natural grin. "Yeah, well, if it does, we'll be okay," she tried to tell me, even if it sounds like lies to me. I felt her hand hover over mine, feeling her warmth now run through my blood. "We always are."

"Yeah, but Negan is going to kill me when he sees that I'm here," I sighed and now felt down more than ever before. "Daryl, too. He's going to come in and kill all of us, expect for Rick, most likely, after he makes Rick watch all of his friends and family die right in front of him. That's who we're dealing with here."

"Hey!" Somebody suddenly called out to myself and Tara, and we paused to see some Scavenger coming our way. "Everything okay?"

I was about to say something smart back, but not before Tara backed me up and called back: "Yeah, we're good. Just needed to talk real quick."

The Scavenger nodded, turned her back, and walked back into Alexandria. "She should really mind her own damn business," I growled and Tara just shook her head. "Should've let me handle her."

"Trust, Tess," Tara simply said, now holding my hands with hers. "Trust."

She began to walk away, wanting me to move the car, but not before I yelled at her back: "Trust gets you killed!"

Nevertheless, she kept on walking and never responded while I got in the old and wrecked car, parking it where we needed it to be. I'll trust them when they give me an actual reason to.

We're ready.

No, we're not.

We're not ready.

Yes, we are.

No, we are not.

We will be...

We got the call as soon as the the Scavenger gave out the turkey call, alerting everyone in Alexandria that the Saviors have arrived. I was down on the floor behind the closed gate entrance with Daryl, Tara, Izzy, and Rosita — and several other Scavengers, too.

I had the gun that I was assigned — which was the Rugar AR-556 Semi-Auto Rifle. It was small, yet very effective. Everyone, for the most part, all carried the same gun.

Rick was the only one that Negan would be able to see from the outside as Rick stood on the guard post while several of our people and the Scavengers sat below along with him. Jadis sat down below to Rick's left.

"Rosita," Rick called out above and looked down at her. "Get into position. I'll signal you. And, are the walls gonna hold?"

Rosita confidently nodded and promised: "It'll hold." She looked to Daryl and that's when he looked up at Rick, nodding.

Then, that's when we all could clearly hear the vehicles approaching little by little. Immediately, we all could hear a very familiar voice say through a megaphone: "All points are covered. Every contingency is already met. I come armed with two barrels of the truth. A test is upon you, and I'm giving out the cheat sheet."

"Wait, isn't that Eugene?!" I whispered-yelled to Rosita and she immediately hissed back: "Yes!"

The breaks squeaked, air brakes hissed, and engines shut off all there in one swing. I couldn't see the scene, but I wish that I could.

"H-Hello," Eugene continued to talk through the megaphone. "I come salved with the hope that it is my dropped knowledge that you heed. Options are zero to none. Compliance and fealty are your only escape. Bottom-lining it... You may thrive, or you may die. I sincerely wish for the former for everyone's sake. The jig is up and in full effect. Will you comply, Rick?"

Is he kidding me right now?!

Instead of answering Eugene, Rick simply asked: "Where's Negan?"

I could only imagine what Eugene's face looked like now — until I heard him say back: "I'm Negan."

I seen Rick shut his eyes and look away in disbelief and possible sadness, too. I never took it this far since I know, no matter what, I was always going to come back home. Eugene is already in way too deep to probably even notice, but Rick sees the full and disgusting picture, though.

Nevertheless, with a look of sadness, Rick nodded down to Rosita, who actually had real tears in her eyes. Rick nodded, giving her signal as we all waited, and she looked away before clicking the button to detonate the explosives. Rosita pushed the detonator, so I gripped Izzy's arm, awaiting for it to go off, but there was no explosion.

Rosita was nervous and in disbelief while Rick was, too. He suddenly stood up and, before he could reach for his gun, the Scavengers all stood and had their own guns at the back of our heads. What the fuck?! I knew it!

Nevertheless, we held our weapons back up at them and I snickered to Tara: "I knew it!"

The gate began to open and I just knew now that Daryl and I were screwed more than ever before. We were standing right there in the open. Fucking hell...

Now, I could see the outside view perfect — like I was front-row to a concert. I spotted Negan get out of one of his trucks and Dwight hopped out behind him. I am so pissed right now.

Eugene hopped down from the back of the truck while Dwight stared us all down. I can't believe that I actually fell for this shit! His shit, actually.

The Saviors open up the truck outside of our gates that held the explosives. They make their way inside and get them back. Negan comes up to the gate with Eugene in hand, guarding him from any shots that might come his way. Rick finally stood up, holding his gun in the back of his pants.

"You ever hear the one about the stupid little prick named Rick, who thought he knew shit, but didn't know shit and got everyone he that gave a shit about killed?" Negan taunted, holding Lucille in his other hand. He pointed up at Rick and smirked. "It's about you. You're all gonna wanna put your guns down now."

"No one drops anything," Rick demanded before looking to Jadis next. "We had a deal."

"Tamiel came for the boat things. Followed ones who took. Made a better deal," Jadis said in return, holding his pistol to Rick's head. Shit...

"You push me, and you push me. And, you push me, Rick," Negan continued on with his crap. "You just tried to blow us up, right? I mean, I get me, my people. But, Eugene? He's one of yours. And after what he did — he stepped up. You people... are animals. Universe gives you a sign, and you just shove your finger right up its ass." Negan now flashed his right hand's middle finger up in the air and pointed right at Rick and laughed. "Dwight, Simon, chop-chop."

Simon and Dwight climb on top of the flatbed of the truck that Eugene was just standing on, unbuckling something that was covered up with a sheet. It only took them a minute to reveal a very shiny shiver coffin, which almost made me drop to my knees while my mouth hung open instead.

"Sasha," I whispered and a tear fell down my cheek. "Oh, no."

We all watched very closely in disbelief while they set-up the coffin up-right while Negan got on the flatbed now while Dwight and Simon dismissed themselves from it. That son-of-a-bitch!

"So, you don't like Eugene anymore," Negan announces, bringing his arms up with Lucille and shrugged. "You guys gotta like Sasha. I do, too." He hit the coffin with Lucille two soft times. "Got her right here packaged for your convenience, alive and well." I can't believe it and Carl couldn't, either, as he now stood up to see what was going on. "Now, I brought her, so I wouldn't have to kill all of you, and not killing all of you could get complicated."

I couldn't believe this... betrayal. I couldn't believe that Negan actually kept Sasha alive this whole time, either. I'm thankful, but still skeptical and concerned.

"See, I know there's a lot of firepower left in there, Rick. So, I'm gonna make this simple. I want all the guns you've managed to scrap-up. Yep, I know about those, too," Negan continued to dish out each and every demand that he had. "I want every last grain of lemonade you got left. I want a person of your own choosing... for Lucille." He pointed to his barbed-wire baseball bat and smiled.

Then, Negan looked over at myself and Daryl with a grin. "Daryl... Ooh, I gotta get me my Daryl back. I see you," he teased, using his two fingers to go from Daryl back to himself. "Then, Tess... Ooh, as much as I want my favorite girl back, I most certainly want to see her more dead than alive. So, Rick, to make it easier on your decision later for who takes the bashing from Lucille, I would highly recommend just handing over Tess to me on a silver platter."

"Not going to happen," Rick immediately said back to Negan, to my surprise. He was actually defending me against that creep. Thank God.

I had nothing left to lose, so... I might as well do it now. So, I did. "Yeah, and... Fuck you, Negan!" I exclaimed before delivering two middle fingers right to him.

He laughed and shook his head. "If only you would have let me, Tess," he teased and I slowly put down my hands. "If only..." I was about to shoot him right here and now, but I waited on Rick's signal.

Turning his attention back up to Rick, Negan went on with his demands: "And... The pool table and all the pool cues and chalk. And, I want it now or Sasha dies, and then all of you. Probably." Negan shrugged and smiled about this like the twisted and sick man that he is. "C'mon, Rick... Just because I brought her in a casket doesn't mean she has to leave in it."

A moment began to pass and Rick didn't say shit, but Negan sighed and chuckled, resting his head in his hand for a second. "You know what? You suck ass, Rick. You really do. I don't want to have to kill her, but that's exactly what you're gonna make me do."

Negan seemed serious and genuine, like he actually didn't want to kill her because Rick made a wrong call. Negan wanted me, Not Sasha. However, if he had to, he would kill us both in cold blood just to prove a point.

"Let me see her," Rick suddenly chirped out, which sort of broke my heart in the way that his voice shook. I wanted to see that she was alive and well, too. I think that we all did, to be honest.

Negan recognized Rick's request and he chuckled, smiling about it. "Oh. Alright. Just give me a second. I might have to get her up to speed. You can't hear shit inside this thing. Sash... You're not gonna believe this crap."

Before any of us could process it, Negan opened the casket door and Sasha came out... But she was now a Walker and belonged to the dead. I screamed out in pain as tears began to stream down my face and that's when I began to open fire.

To Be Continued...

• This was... This was sad. First, though, I made that wonderful pic up there of Rosita, Tess, & Tara — even though, I don't PERSONALLY like Rosita, but it's whatever, though. Anyways... Um, if you guys didn't know, but Sasha was one of my favorite characters on this show. She... She gave up so much and, yet, it had to end like this. She was such a bad-ass and, honestly, one of the originals — I would say. She lost Bob, then Tyreese right after that. Then, alas, after she had found her happiness once again... Abraham was taken away from her, too. In a poetic way, it was ALWAYS supposed to end like this for her. You will be missed, Sasha 🖤 All the love .xx •