"This is life here. Every day... But it came at a cost." King Ezekiel explained as he showed the group around the kindom. "And I wanted more of this. I wanted to expand. To create more places like this. Men and women lost their limbs. Children lost their parents because I sent them into battle against the wasted when I did not need to."

"This is different." Rick said, taking a step closer to the King who shook his head. "It isn't." "It is. The dead don't rule us. The world doesn't look like this outside your walls. People don't have it as good. Some people don't have it good at all." Rick said.

"I have to worry about my people."

"You call yourself a damn king. You sure as hell don't act like one." Daryl snapped, making Ezekiel walk towards him. "All of this... came at a cost. It was lives, arms, legs. The peace we have with the Saviors is uneasy, but it is peace. I have to hold on to it. I have to try." He then turned around to face all the Alexandrians, his arms out wide.

"Although the Kingdom cannot grant you the aid you desire, the King is sympathetic to your plight. I offer our friend Daryl asylum for as long as he requires it. He will be safe here. The Saviors do not set foot inside our walls." Ezekiel explained and Daryl took a step closer to him.

"How long do you think that's gonna last?" Daryl asked before walking away, everyone following after him.

"All right, open it up. We're gone." Daryl screamed and Rick shook his head, slightly pushing Daryl back. "You're not."

"I'm not staying here." Daryl groaned and Eloise took a step towards the men, nodding her head. "You have to. It's the smartest play." Rick nodded at her words. "Try to talk to Ezekiel. Or stare him into submission... whatever it takes."

"We'll be back soon." Eloise mumbled, rubbing Daryl's shoulder before following her group out the gates and back in the car for their ride home.

...

The car ride back to Hilltop was most of all silent until they heard walkie talkie feedback. "That's the Saviors. Turn up the volume!" Eloise whispered, pointing to the bag by Carl's feet. Carl pulled at the walkie talkie and turned up the volume to hear Negan.

"For anyone out there who loved the obese bastard as much as I did, I just want to say a few words. Fat Joey was not the most badass son of a bitch, but he was loyal. He had a great sense of humor. In fact, we were just joking about oral sex with Lucille the other day. Things will not be the same now that he's dead. Without Fat Joey, Skinny Joey is just... Joey- So it's a goddamn tragedy. So, let's have a moment of silence." Eloise rolled her eyes at Negan's words, resting her head on Carl's shoulder.

Rick slows the car, looking out the window. "Someone's trying to block the way. Gotta be the Saviors." Jesus mumbled from beside Jasper.

"Look. I think that's their base over there." Carl spoke up, making Eloise crane her neck to see. She straightened up at the grey building she and Carl were once in and slowly nodded. "Yeah, that's it."

"Must be trying to make it hard to get to them." Jasper mumbled as Rick sighed, looking back at the blocked road. "We gotta keep going. We'll move them, and then we'll move them back. They don't need to know we were here."

Everyone started getting out of the car and into one of the ones blocking the road. Eloise headed for a small pick up truck to help out when she could hear Jasper scream fro the car behind. "Louie, don't get in the car. You don't even know how to drive."

"I've driven before." Eloise said in a matter a fact tone, remembering the day she and Carl went out to look for Jace and Enid. Carl stifled a laugh as he passed the siblings. "Yeah, not well." Eloise shot him a look, making him laugh harder. She turned back to Jasper before sighing, walking away from the car.

Eloise followed Carl as they walked over to Michonne, Rick, Jesus and Rosita who were looking at a line of dynamite. Lou's jaw dropped as Carl walked up to the group faster.

"Wait. When I was hiding in the back of the truck, I heard a couple of them talking about this. This is for a herd." Carl breathed out and Eloise nodded her head, her arms crossing nervously.

"That's why it's a steel cable. It's not just for one walker. It's for a lot." Rosita breathed out as the the whole group came back. "We need
these explosives." Sasha said and Rick nodded. "Yeah. But we have to figure out how to disarm it first."

Rosita didn't even hesitate to go the a metal grate that was lying on the ground, and when she lifted it up, it reveal the main chamber of the dynamite. "Uh... Okay." Tara mumbled, backing away from Rosita, making her roll her eyes. "Backing up is not gonna make a difference if this thing goes off."

The walkie talkie started to make noise again and Carl pulled the walkie out of his pocket and threw it to Jesus. "We got ourselves a red situation. I need a search party. See if Daryl ran home like the dumb animal that he is."

"On it. Be there in time for lunch." Simon's voice rang. "Turn that sleepy little burg upside down." Negan said before the radio went silent.

"We gotta go. We gotta get there before them, but we need these. We need to clear a path anyway." Michonne spoke up and Rick nodded, turning to Rosita who was still working. "Yeah. Rosita?"

"First part's done." Rosita whispered, pulling out the battery. "What now?" Jasper asked and Rosita turned to the line of explosives. "We gotta unwrap the secondary explosives. The dynamite, the RPGs. Make sure these casings are not messed up, and do not mess them up, either. This thing could still blow."

"You all heard her. Let's go." Rick called out and everyone ran to an explosive.

Eloise ran an explosive, slowly, she pulled out her hunters knife and cut the rubber around it, trying her hardest not to set it off.

"You can load the explosives into the trunk as long as they're in good shape. No dents, no tears. They're not live. They still need to be triggered to be set off." Rosita screamed before she saw Eloise working with the explosives.

"Lou! Get over here." Eloise quickly finished freeing the explosive she was cutting before making way to the truck where Rosita, Carl and Tara were. Rosita sighed, gently taking the dynamite from Eloise, scanning over it before putting it in the truck.

Eloise went to go back to get more but Rosita stopped her. "No. You're helping load up. Come on."

"Dad. Look." Carl called out, pointing down the highway where walkers started to show up. "Okay. There they are. But they're far. We still have time." Rick called out to everyone else cutting the explosives free. "You sure?Jasper asked and Rick nodded. "We need these. And we need to get the cars back in front of the onramp."

"They'll know we took their explosives, so does it matter?" Jesus asked and Rick barely turned to meet his gaze. "We want that herd to stay on the highway."

"Why?" Jasper asked, cutting the last wire around his piece of dynamite. "We may need it."

"Okay. Tara, Carl, Lou, come on!" Rosita screamed, her and Jasper running towards the car. Eloise hopped into the backseat and as soon as she closed the door, Tara slammed onto the gas, driving towards the cars the four of them have to move.

When they finished moving the cars the herd had gotten closer, cutting them off from Rick and Michonne. "Damn it!" Carl cursed and Rosita pushed him and Eloise towards the car. "We'll figure it out."

Tara hopped into the drivers seat, Rosita in the passenger and Eloise, Carl and Jasper in the back as the walkers surrounded the car.

Suddenly, the five heard a loud car honking where Rick and Michonne were before an engine revved in the distance.

All the walkers turned away from the car they were in, stumbling towards Rick and Michonne. Eloise couldn't see how they did it but the walkers started falling, getting cut in half almost all the herd gone by the time Rick and Michonne got in the car and Tara started driving.

"Yeah, I didn't like the look of that shit at all." Rosita mumbled and Eloise let out a dry chuckle. "Yeah, no shit." Jasper glared at his sister, hitting the back of her head. Eloise winced, rubbing the back of her head as Carl laughed, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her into his side.

...

As soon as they got to Alexandria, they were met with a worried Tobin. "Lose the car?"

"Uh, it's somewhere safe." Rick said, walking right passed him but Tobin followed. "You didn't find anything." "No. Listen, we need to get everyone ready." Rick was cut off by the sounds of a motorcycle and trucks revving in the distance, coming up to Alexandria.

The group watched as the Saviors parked their vehicles and Simon jumped out, a big smile on his face. "Rick. Hello. And hello again." "We thought it'd be longer." Rick said, walking up to the man who just laughed.

"Do you think we're here for a tribute? Do you?" Rick shifted the weight on his feet. "Is there another reason?"

Simon nodded, clicking his tongue. "There is. We're here for Daryl."

"Negan took Daryl." Rick quickly replied and Simon playfully winced, leaning back and pointing at Eloise and Carl. "Oh, but... then these two showed up, Daryl went missing... might those two things be connected?"

"They're not. We didn't know he was gone till right now." Rick said and Simon nodded. "Then this should be easy. Now, everyone find a buddy. Gonna have to follow us around. If he's here, we really need you all to see him die." Simon said, walking passed the group, flicking Carl's hat in the process.

...

Tara and Eloise walked back to front of the gates just as the Saviors started leaving. "Oh! And, Rick... if Daryl does turn up here two days from now, two months from now... hell, two years from now, just know there's no statute of limitations on this. Keep that hatchet handy. You're gonna need it if he turns up with you people. And it won't turn out the way it did for your boy." Simon said, smacking the side of the truck as it drove away.

As soon as the Saviors were gone, Rick turned to the group, a nasty glare on his face. "What happened to the pantry?"

Eloise turned to Carl, not knowing what he was talking about. Carl leaned towards Lou's ear. "It's empty." Lou's eyes went wide as she turned back to the group. "We don't know. And we need to talk about Gabriel." Aaron said and Jasper shrugged. "Where is he?"

"He was on watch the night you all went to scavenge. I was supposed to take over for him in the morning. He wasn't at his post. Pantry was cleared out and a car was gone." Tobin said as Eric spoke up. "No one's seen him since."

"That son of a bitch." Rosita scoffed out. "He stole our shit and ran."

"That's... what it looks like." Tobin sighed and Michonne shook her head. "I don't want to believe it." "I don't believe it. That's not Gabriel. He wouldn't do that to us." Rick cut her off, Eloise nodded, agreeing with the man.

"I thought he changed, too, but it can't be anything else." Rosita said, letting out a dry laugh and Rick glared. "Yes, it can."

—I feel like we're not getting enough Carl and Eloise IM SORRY

AND CARLS NOT EVEN IN THE NEXT LIKE SIX EPISODES SO THE NEXT ONES GONNA BE ABT JACE AT HILLTOP😭🤚