Hello Everyone! I know it's been a few weeks since I have posted. I currently have a class I am attending that is taking up a lot of my time. It's going for well but is super intense. I promise I haven't abandoned this story or forgotten about you! I hope you enjoy the update!

Happy Reading!

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Daryl

I handed back the walkie talkie to Aaron. There was a slight tremble to my hands, but he was too upset to notice. Rick had said Jo got out with Gabriel. But Gabriel didn't get out. Morgan saw Gabriel and someone else fight there way to a trailer and were trapped. Ten walkers deep.

It had to be Jo. If she was with Gabriel and he got caught there was no way she would have left him. I needed to get back there and figure out how to get them out. If The Savior's cleared the walkers first they would have a straight shot at Jo. He would have a straight shot at Jo. I couldn't risk that. I had to go.

I turned to see Rick walking towards Aaron and I, a baby in his arms. I frowned, wondering which one of the men we had killed was her pops. I shook my head, it didn't matter. We would take her back with us. She would grow up safe with Little Asskicker and Glenn and Maggie's baby. If no one else would take her Jo and I would. I knew that for a fact. I had seen her with Little Asskicker and knew she must have been an amazing mom before all this started.

Rick shifted his weight, rocking the baby to keep it quiet. He turned to Tobin. "I've got a stop to make and Daryl's only got his bike. Maybe she can go back with you or Scott?"

Tears were still on Aaron's face as he stepped forward. "She can come with me," his voice broke as he tried to compose himself. "I can take her to the Hilltop, she'll be safe there."

Rick didn't look entirely convinced. Aaron had just lost Eric and he wasn't thinking clearly. "Aaron, you sure?" He asked.

Aaron nodded and held his hands out for the baby. His hands were shaking slightly.

Rick handed her over, but he hovered over her, making sure Aaron had her okay before he stepped back. "Her name's Gracie," Rick said.

I turned away from the baby my thoughts churning. I headed towards my bike. Gracie would be safe at Hilltop. I needed to make sure Jo was safe. It was hard to think about plans for the future when so much was still uncertain. As far as I was concerned, things had changed and we needed to end this now.

"I'll see you back home." Rick called to me as he walked towards his Jeep.

"I'm going for Jo," I told him walking backwards towards my bike. I wasn't asking.

Rick nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I figured," he agreed. It was a good thing he didn't decide to try and talk me out of it. He wasn't going to like how that ended.

"You sure you still wanna go talk to those assholes?" I called back to him. This was the one part of Rick's plan we had disagreed on. I thought it was a dangerous waste of time. "Maybe wait until ya got some back up..." I wasn't offering to go with him. Not until I knew Jo was safe. "If ya wait, maybe that chick would listen to Jo..."

Rick looked offended, but it was the truth. The leader there had warned up to Jo. She and Rick had done nothing but butt heads. Jo had proven herself to them. And maybe it had nothing to do with Rick and more to do with the fact that Jo was a woman. I couldn't tell. All I knew was that she didn't see to respect Rick.

But I could tell by the set of his jaw that Rick wasn't gonna listen no matter what I said. "Naw, you go after Jo. This is how this gets done," he said resolutely.

I shrugged, sighing. "You're gone too long we'll come looking for you," I offered, because that was all we could do. This was a stupid risk and was just as likely to have us fighting on two fronts as it did to earn us more allies.

"That's the plan," Rick agreed nodding.

Gunshots erupted all around us. We both dove for cover. The bullets zipped and zinged around us. My head snapped around to make sure the baby was safe, but Aaron was already in the car and he sped away from the gun fire.

It was coming from somewhere in the trees. I looked back to make sure Rick was okay and he held up a hand for me to wait. I gritted my teeth. We didn't have time to wait.

"Hey!" he yelled. "Hey!" The bullets stopped. "You're alone. You gotta be, there's not enough room for two of you behind that tree. And there's a herd coming. I'm just say'in." There was no response. "Hey I tell you what, we'll make you a deal. You drop your gun and come on out and tell us what we need to know."

I was watching the movement of the bushes around the tree, looking for anything I could hit. It was a little far for the hand gun I had, but I could make the shot.

Rick kept his voice perfectly calm and reasonable as he bargained with the asshole. "You do that, you can take a car. You go. You live. How about it?"

"Why should I trust you?" The man's voice sounded shaky and small, so either he was one hell of an actor or he wasn't a major player in this. There was a chance he was just some poor smuck that got caught up in it, but I always remembered how easily Jo had fooled everyone in Alexandria.

Rick poked his head out a little and held his hands up for the man to see he wan't holding his gun. "Because I'm giving you my word. There's not a lot that's worth much these days, but a man's word...it's gotta mean something, right?"

"Okay," the man agreed, but he sounded uncertain. As soon as he appeared I stalked towards him keeping my gun aimed at his chest.

"What do you want to know?" he asked, throwing his gun away from him and holding his hands up for us to see.

Rick stood up as well, trusting me to keep the guy covered. "You ever have an M2 Browning .50-caliber guns here?" Rick asked.

The man nodded too many times. "We did for a while," he said.

"What happened to them?" I snarled moving closer.

The man shirked away from me fearfully, his eyes flickering over to Rick who he clearly considered the safer of the two of us. "They got sent to another outpost yesterday," the man whinned, holding his hands up higher as though I hadn't seen them before.

"Which one?" Rick demanded, his voice low and gravely.

"It was G-Gavin's, west of here," the man stammered. My mind was racing as I tried to remember which group went to Gavin's.

Rick pressed his lips together in an angry line and nodded.

The man relaxed. "Can ah, can I go?" he asked hopefully, his eyes flickering to the trees. He looked like a rabbit about to bolt.

I lifted the gun and shot him in the head without hesitation. I wasn't taking no more chances. Not with Jo out there. Every asshole was a threat. Every one of Negan's men stilling breathing was someone who could bring her to him to cash out whatever reward he was offering that Morales was talking about.

"Which teams at Gavin's?" I asked Rick, already jogging back towards my bike.

Rick was looking at me with a mixture of shock and uncertainty. Like he couldn't believe I had killed that guy. Like he didn't know me. He had given his word that the asshole could live, I didn't give mine. 

His word. He gave me his word about keeping Jo safe. As far as I was concerned, today his word didn't mean shit. And he didn't get to give it to some asshole who would have shot either one of us and not keep it with me.

Rick pressed his lips together but he didn't say nothing. He spun away from me and stalked back towards his jeep. We had to move if we were going to find them guns.

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Jo

Negan's eyes flickered back and forth from Gabriel to me. His body was still positioned between me and Gabriel. It didn't surprise me that Gabriel's odd behavior would make Negan defensive, but what did surprise me was that Negan had placed himself in a protective stance between Gabriel and I. Which meant somewhere in Negan's head he considered me an ally.

It meant I didn't need to necessarily worry about him attacking and killing me, but with someone like Negan it could also imply a certain level of responsibility/ownership. There was a small piece of me that hoped it was just because I was an unarmed female in a dangerous situation and he considered himself an alpha male. But realistically I knew that wasn't the case. Negan had shown an interest in me since the beginning. I hadn't seen him for a few weeks now, but it didn't feel like the time apart had lessened me in his esteem.

I glanced at Gabriel, who's eyes were locked on Negan's face, waiting for the other man to react. In some ways it felt like Gabriel was challenging Negan, testing how far the other man could be pushed, but I didn't know Gabriel well enough to know if that was something he would do. Or maybe he had just been pushed too far and had snapped. If that was the case I couldn't trust him either and I was on my own to figure out how to get the two of us out of here.

The tension was rising with every passing second and I realized in that moment neither one of them were capable of doing anything to lessen it. For once I felt like I was the most stable and least scary person in the room. That was a bad sign. I looked back and forth between the two men in disbelief.

I shoved my way past Negan so I was standing between them. "Gabriel," I said his name and he turned his head towards me, but refused to break eye contact with Negan. "Gabriel," I snapped again and he jerked, meeting my gaze.

"Helping or hurting?" I snarled. He opened his mouth to answer but I spun away from him. It had been a rhetorical question. I shot a glare at Negan and headed back towards my place on the floor.

Negan chuckled after me, but his eyes were locked on me. "You know Hot Friend..." he started to say, but I shot him a severe glare.

Instead of wilting appropriately he just grinned away like I was adorable. It irritated me when Daryl did this, but that was different, Daryl had earned that right. Negan didn't know me, and being entirely disregarded by Negan in this way enraged me.

"You don't scare me Hot Friend, but I gotta say your scowls are hot as hell," he said and he dropped down onto the floor beside me. He leaned his head against the wall and stared at my face, smiling at me like we were out on a date instead of trapped and fighting for our lives.

I refused to react. I tightened my jaw and forced every emotion I was feeling back into the corners of my mind while I did this. I absolutely locked down.

"So...your buddy Rick left ya," he started to say. "That sucks."

"Don't talk," I growled.

Negan let out a low chuckle and a pleased smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. The man had to be a masochist of some kind to be so delighted every time I scowled at him. I wondered then if instead of my normal reactions, if I just pretended to be frightened or worse interested in him if he would leave me alone. 

Finally, Gabriel dropped down to sit across from us once more. Some of the tension in Negan seemed to fade and he glanced out of the corner of his eye at the other man. No matter how intimidating I tried to be, I wasn't going to scare him. But Gabriel was an uncertainty, and as hard as he was trying to hide it, the priest had Negan out of sorts. If I knew it was an act I could use it to my advantage, but there was a piece of me that didn't entirely trust Gabriel or his reactions. 

Negan cleared his throat. "We can wait it out a little bit, see if my people can figure something out," he said authoritatively. "One thing, sure as shit, if my people think I'm dead...a lot of folks are going to die in there."

"Why's that?" Gabriel challenged in a knowing tone.

Negan narrowed his eyes at the priest. "Listen to me," he snarled, pointing the gun at Gabriel. "I don't have shit to confess." When he seemed to realize Gabriel had gotten the reaction he wanted Negan cracked his neck and that smile returned. "Expect maybe the fact that I rubbed one out right where you are sitting just to calm down a bit," his eyes cut to me and he winked. I rolled my eyes and continued to work to ignore him.

I wasn't fast enough with him holding the gun, but if I waited for my moment, I just might get lucky. So I tucked all my emotions and fears away where they couldn't interfere with what I had to do in here and I settled in and watched and waited.

When I didn't give Negan the satisfaction of a reaction he seemed to grow bored. He was like having a little kid around. His attention span lasted only moments before he was on to the next thing.

He cocked his head to the side and stared at Gabriel. "Let me ask you something," Negan started. "Why did you become a priest?"

Gabriel blinked a few times as though he hadn't expected such an intelligent question from Negan. Underestimating the man just because he was a psycho was a poor choice on Gabriel's part. Negan was the leader here not just because of his capacity for viciousness, but also because he was smart and he could read people. He should not be underestimated.

Gabriel however, didn't seem to be able to tell that Negan was fishing. Instead, he puffed himself up self righteously before answering. "I love god and I love people. I wanted to bring them together. To help them through their difficult times. To help them through their weaknesses."

Negan smirked as though Gabriel had just played right into his hand. "Well, look at that. That's my thing. I like to help people through their weaknesses too. Been doing it one way or another my whole life."

Gabriel scowled in disbelief. "How do you help people?"

A slow, knowing smile pulled at Negan's face. He glanced towards me to check and see if I was paying attention to their conversation. He had to know I was listening, this close I didn't have a choice, but I refused to meet his gaze and instead focused on what was happening around us. I refused to philosophize with a masochistic psychopath.

Negan turned his head back towards Gabriel and despite the smile on his face his voice was a dangerous growl when he spoke. "You wanna know why people are going to start dying in there? Because I'm not there to stop it."

I did turn to face him then. Because I had heard it in his voice. As much as he tried to hide it, a small piece of the real Negan had slipped through. I didn't think Gabriel had picked up on it, but that was okay. Every piece, every real piece, I saw was information about the man himself. And if I could understand him, I could beat him.

There was a louder thud and without making the conscious decision I had already rolled up into a crouch, my head snapping in the direction of the walkers as they surged against the weakening walls. The wall to my left was going to give first, I could already see it bowing under the strain of the massive herd outside. Daryl had been thorough.

Negan let out his creepy two note whistle.

"Knock it off," there was a slight tremble to Gabriel's voice and he had scrambled up onto his knees, though he didn't seem to know or understand which direction the danger was coming from.

Negan hadn't moved. I could feel his eyes on me, but I refused to look away from where I knew the walkers would come through first. "You know what I love about her?" Negan asked. "She's like having a guard dog or a goddamn bloodhound with you where ever you go. You never have to worry about a thing. She is on it."

I ignored his words. His opinion didn't matter. But Gabriel blanched. "She is a woman," he said resolutely.

Negan cackled. "Don't I know it! Ya just notice that now Gabey?" he teased. "Or was it when I had ya put your hands all over her hot bod when ya searched her for knives?" Negan's voice dropped to a suggestive drawl and one of my hands tightened into a fist. I wasn't going to let Negan try and turn us against one another. "Is that what you meant by weak?" Negan asked, leveling his eyes at Gabriel.

"Y-you said you helped the weak before this," Gabriel stammered over his words, looking everywhere but at me.

Negan smirked, knowing he had won that round and settled back against the wall. I didn't relax, I couldn't just yet. Having their conversation to focus on was helpful for distracting me, but being surrounded by all the walkers and not having any weapons was going to become a problem real soon. Then we would see how much Negan liked me and my abilities.

"Kids. You don't show them the way, they turn out like garbage. Little assholes become great big ones you don't show them the way. Adults, they need it too - the government, laws, religion, guilt. People are weak," Negan said with a shrug. It felt like an old conversation, one he had before.

"Everyone?" Gabriel asked in surprise.

"Everyone," Negan agreed nodding curtly. He was watching the wall now too.

"Even Jo?" Gabriel challenged triumphantly, thinking he had somehow beaten Negan at his own game.

I realized in that moment Gabriel had zero concept of what had happened to me. Of what I lived with on a day to day basis. He only saw what he wanted to see, like so many others. It didn't make me mad or upset, not anymore, but it did make me sad.

Negan turned to look at me. His eyes were grave and somehow he understood better than this man who had known me for nearly a year now. This man who had fought beside me, who I had bled for.

I looked away.

Negan pressed his lips together. "Especially Jo," he confirmed unapologetically.

Gabriel bristled, his eyes flashing guiltily towards me because he had been the one to bring it up. "You're insane. Jo is the strongest person I know," he said with absolute faith. It should have felt like a compliment, but it didn't. "You're the one who's weak," he accused. "Killing the innocent."

Negan smirked. "Right, and goddamn wrong. I'm weak, but me 'killing the innocent'," Negan chuckled and shook his head. "That ain't why I'm weak."

The wall snapped and cracked. One of the side panels gave way and a walker broke it's way through. It's teeth snarled and snapped desperately as it tried to reach us.

I jumped to my feet and ran at it, kicking it in the head as hard as I could. My hand instinctively dropped to my belt for a knife to kill it. I went cold when I found nothing. It took too long for my mind to catch up and remember I was unarmed.

I swung back around to Negan who was watching me carefully. I stalked up to him and reached down towards his belt. He chuckled suggestively, but I ignored him. We couldn't keep fighting each other, not if we were going to get out of this. There were too many walkers for me to kill my self. That knowledge nestled into the dark places in the back of my mind and made a home.

I drew the knife off of Negan's belt and he let me. His smile widened as he winked at me.

I buried it in the walkers head, then grabbed the walkers shirt, pulling it halfway in so it would fully block the hole from the rest of the herd. I turned back to Negan, my eyes serious.

"Negan," when I said his name his head snapped towards me, his dark eyes lifting to meet mine. Something moved in his eyes, something predatory that made me want to take a step back from him.

"We don't have time for this," I told him seriously. "We have to get out of here."

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Daryl

Rick and I sped down the road towards Gavin's outpost. Carol and The Kingdom were there, but we couldn't take the chance of them getting away with the .50 cals. If they got those guns to The Sanctuary they could clear up that herd no problem. We were just approaching the gate when a military humvee pulled around the corner, tires squealing, headed towards The Sanctuary.

I gunned the engine, racing down the road after it. They weren't getting the guns to the sanctuary. I didn't care if I had to run them off the road. Rick was right behind me in the jeep. I pulled out my handgun to fire at the humvee, but just as I got off two shots the tailgate dropped. A man was sitting in the back pointing the .50 cal straight at me.

I swerved to avoid it and the bike wobbled beneath me, coming loose. I fought to save it, but over corrected and went into a slide. I directed it as best I could and laid it down in the ditch.

I heard Rick's Jeep speed by, as bullets flew. I was on my feet almost as soon as I stopped moving. My body was sore but we didn't have time for this. I could be hurt later.

I gunned the bike and raced back down the road. I was careful to use the curve of the road to line myself up directly behind Rick.

He met my gaze in the rearview mirror as the gun fired at his jeep. At the last moment Rick swerved sharply to the left and the gun followed. I fired two more shots and the asshole slumped over the gun, dead.

One asshole down one to go. I backed off and let Rick pull up along side the humvee. At first he tried to run it off the road, slamming the Jeep into the side. But it wasn't going to work. The humvee had a wider wheel base and was heavier than the jeep.

Rick pulled up along side and jumped across the open space into the humvee. The man lifted a gun, but Rick already had a knife in his hand. The Humvee swerved dangerously back and forth across the road and I had no choice but to back off.

It swerved back and forth and at the last moment the Humvee went through a guard rail and down into a ravine.

Fear surged through me as I parked the bike and ran to the edge of the road. It was too far down, there was no way Rick could have survived. I couldn't believe after everything we had been through he would die in a car crash.

"Hey," Rick called, climbing his ass up the ditch. I leaned down and pulled him up the last little bit. I tipped my head to the side to get a look at his injuries. He musta jumped clear right before it went over. He was limping and there was a gash on his face, but he looked alright.

"We got the guns," he said brightly, motioning towards the smoking wreck below us.

I watched the upside down humvee, waiting to see if the driver was still alive. "You look like shit," I muttered.

Rick snorted. "Let's go see if this asshole's alive," he growled dangerously and led the way towards he ditch.

I could feel time ticking away. I had to get back there. Had to find her, but we had to finish this first. I wasn't taking any chances any more and that meant no loose ends.

When we reached the bottom the driver had already pulled himself out of the wreck. He was a goner. He was bleeding out and his legs weren't working.

Rick leveled his python at the asshole as he tried to drag himself down the road away from us. Rick cocked his gun his head tilting dangerously. "Your people back at the chemical plant. Did they win?"

I stepped up beside him. And when he driver made no move to look at us I kicked him over onto his back.

He howled in pain, covered his stomach with blood covered hands. "No one did," he panted.

"The hell's that supposed to mean" I challenged and when he didn't answer I pulled my gun, shoving it in his face. "The hell's that mean?"

The man coughed, blood coated his teeth and ran down his chin. "Everyone's dead," he said a smile."

"Bullshit," I snarled.

"There's no one else? You're the only one?" Rick asked in confusion.

Blood was pouring out of his stomach, he didn't have long. "Me. The King. The Axe Man. And some short-haired psycho lady."

I turned to Rick, relief surging through me. "At least we know Carol's alive," I said flippantly.

The man rolled towards us. "You did this...my people...your people...they're all gone."

Rick looked away in as shame and guilt played on his face. But we didn't have time for that shit. Jo was out there and we had to take care of the people who were still alive.

"And now...me too..." the man panted dramatically, then he collapsed back against the road.

I leveled my gun, put a bullet in his brain and stalked away. We didn't have time for this shit.

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I hope you enjoyed the update! I've missed my wonderful readers! I will hopefully be able to get back on a more regular update schedule once my class is done. Thank you all for sticking with me, your continued support means so much!!!