NOT TOMORROW YET

We made it back home. We were having a meeting

"And we can work with the Hilltop. Maggie hammered down a deal. We're getting food. Eggs, butter, fresh vegetables. But they're not just giving it away. These Saviors, they almost killed Sasha, Daryl, Y/n, and Abraham on the road. Now sooner or later they would've found us. Just like those Wolves did. Just like Jesus did. They would've killed someone or some of us. And then they would try to own us. And we would try to stop them. But by then, in that kind of fight, low on food. We could lose. This is the only way to be sure. As sure as we can get. That we win. And we have to win. We do this for the Hilltop. It's how we keep this place. It's how we feed this place. This needs to be a group decision. If anybody objects, here's your chance to say your piece" Rick said. It was quiet. Someone stood up. We all turned to see that it was Morgan

"You sure we can do it? We can beat 'em?" Morgan asked

"What this group has done, what we learned, what we've become. All of us, yes, I'm sure" Rick said. Morgan nodded

"Then all we have to do is just tell them that" Morgan said

"Well, they don't compromise-" Rick was cut off

"This isn't a compromise. It's a choice you give 'em. It's a way out. For them and for us" Morgan said

"We try and talk to the Saviors, we give up our advantage. Our safety. No, we have to come for them before they come for us. We can't leave them alive" Rick said

"Where there's life, there's possibility" Morgan said

"Them hitting us" Rick said

"Hey, we're not trapped in this. None of you were trapped in this" Morgan said

"Morgan, they always come back" Rick said

"Come back from the dead, too" Morgan said

"Yeah, we'll stop them. We have before" Rick said

"I'm not talking about the walkers" Morgan said

"Morgan wants to talk to them first. I think that would be a mistake, but it's not up to me. I'll talk to the people still at home. I'll discuss it with the people on guard now, too, but whoever else wants to approach the Saviors. Talk to them first" Rick said. Aaron stood up

"What happened here, we won't let that happen again. I won't" Aaron stated before sitting back down. Morgan nodded, understanding what Aaron was saying

"Well, looks like it's settled" Rick said. Morgan nodded

"You know exactly what this is. We don't strive from it. We live. We kill them all. We don't all have to kill, but, people are gonna stay here. They do have to accept it" Rick said before walking out of the church

—————

I was outside. It was dusk. A little chilly but not necessary for me to wear a coat. I was walking around when I saw Lee. I smiled as I walked up to him

"Hey, Lee!" I said. He stopped and turned to look at me. He smiled at me

"Y/n, hello" He said

"Hey, Daryl is preparing dinner for us.. why don't you come over?" I asked. Lee sweat dropped as he looked like he had seen a ghost

"A-As much as I-I'd like to take you up on that offer, u-uh.. Daryl will kill me" Lee said with wide eyes. I laughed

"Oh no, you'll be fine.. you fail to realize my powers as his girlfriend" I said with a wink. Lee shook his head

"I don't think this is a-" I cut him off as I grabbed his wrist and began dragging him to my house

"It'll be fun" I said. We approached the house. We walked up to the door and I opened it. Taylor, who was holding Lyra looked at me

"Daryl! Y/n's home, and- oh my God" Taylor muttered as she saw Lee

"What is i- Y/n! What the hell is he doing here?!" Daryl asked as he wore an apron. I began laughing

"Why are you wearing an apron?" I asked. Daryl's cheeks tinted pink

"That's not what we're talking about- him!" Daryl said pointing at Lee who was hiding behind me

"Now now, Daryl, Lee is coming over for dinner" I said

"Absolutely not! Over my dead body" Daryl said with a glare. I glared back

"Hope you enjoy sleeping on the couch" I said. Daryl groaned as he rolled his eyes

"Fine, he can stay" Daryl muttered

"Great!" I said. Lee slowly peeked out from behind my shoulder. Taylor was just staring at him as Daryl gave him the death stare. Daryl set the table and we all sat down and began to eat

"This is really good" Lee said

"I don't care.." Daryl said glaring at him

"Okay, what did Lee seriously do to anger you?" I asked him

"Exist" Daryl said as he put a fork full of food in his mouth

"Daryl, enough!" Taylor said angrily

"He-" Daryl began but I cut him off

"No, let her speak" I said as Lee sank into his chair

"I'm tired of you doing this! Lee is my friend! And you're gonna have to figure out how to live with it! Do you understand me?!" Taylor asked angrily. Daryl looked almost taken aback

"I'm just looking out for yo-" Daryl was cut off again

"You're not my parent! Stop.. seriously.." Taylor said. Daryl dropped his fork and stood up. He then walked out. I groaned

"Oh my God.. okay, um you two stay here.. we'll be back" I said as I got up and went after Daryl. I walked upstairs and into our room. Daryl was sitting on the bed. His back facing towards me. I walked over

"Go away" He said. I sighed as I sat next to him

"Daryl" I said looking at him. He wouldn't look at me

"Daryl, what's going on?" I asked him. He slowly looked at me with tears in his eyes. He covered his face

"I-I did my best.. y'know.. keeping the beatings off of her.. and.. I did my best.. making sure she could grow up better than I did.. we both got out.. it was like I was her father.. and now.. it's like I'm not allowed to do that anymore.. I'm just protecting her" He said. I put my hand on his shoulder

"Daryl.. I'm sure she's grateful for everything you've done for her.. but.. she's not a little kid, you have to let her make her own decisions. Has Lee ever hurt her?" I asked him

"No" He muttered

"Does Lee make Taylor happy?" I asked him

"Yes" He muttered

"You can beat the shit out of Lee when Taylor comes crying to you.. but that won't happen, okay?" I asked him

"Okay" He muttered

"Now, you need to apologize to the two" I said as I set my hand on his back and ushered him to get up. He slowly stood up and began walking out. I followed after him

"Maybe you're right.. I'm too hard on him" Daryl said as we walked down the stairs. He suddenly stopped. I looked at him confused. I looked around him to see Lee and Taylor holding hands. I put my hand on his shoulder

"Relax.. it's just holding hands" I whispered. He began moving down once again. He approached the two young adults. They turned and looked at him

"Sorry" He said before walking away

—————

We had all met. Andy was drawing a picture of our plan. Taylor was back with Lyra

"Describe it" Rick said

"Rectangular building. Big satellites on it" Andy responded

"Any windows?" I asked

"Don't remember any. I think they made it so there's only one way in" Andy said

"Guards outside?" Rick asked

"Yeah. Two of them, at least" Andy said

"And you don't know how many people they have?" Michonne asked

"No. I mean, no. I saw a place where they stored food. Wasn't that big, so.." Andy trailed off

"You been inside?" Rick asked looking down at Andy as he stopped drawing

"Yeah. Yeah, loading supplies one time" Andy said. Glenn put down another paper on top of Andy's drawing

"What do you remember?" Glenn asked. Andy got ready to draw again. He explained the layout of what he had seen as he drew it

"You didn't see any other rooms?" Maggie asked

"No. It's a big place. This is the hallway I saw. There is more" Andy said. Michonne pointed at the paper, to the area that said pantry

"And everytime they had you bring things into here" Michonne stated

"Jesus" I muttered

"We brought a couple spears for them. Two of the Saviors, to come down this hallway. Now they must've done something with them because they didn't come back with 'em. Maybe weapons locker. An armory" Andy stated

"We get in there. Secure the armory. That's how we end it" Glenn said. Rick nodded

"That's how Carol ended it here" Maggie said

"We don't know if they have an armory. Or where it even is" Andy explained

"Well.. we gotta lot of good guesses. We've done more with less" Daryl said. Rick nodded

"We go in at night, while they're sleeping" Rick said. Andy shook his head

"Guards won't be sleeping. Like I said, I think.. there's only one way in and there's no way to bust through that door without waking up the rest of them" Andy said

"We don't need to. They're gonna open it up for us. Let us walk right in. They want Gregory's head, right? We're gonna give it to him" Rick said

—————

We were stopped on the road. We had been driving to the Saviors outpost. Suddenly a horn began blaring. Other horns followed after. We all got out of the cars

"Aaron! Rosita! You start here! We'll peel off every quarter mile. Be back here in a couple hours. See what we got" Rick said as we all held our weapons. A knife rested on my belt. In its sheath. An assault rifle in my hands. We all got ready. Gabriel and Rick went to go talk. I was with Glenn and Heath. We were walking through plants. Tall plants. Walkers growling as they came towards us. We all pulled out our knives and began killing them. One by one. Soon enough they were all on the ground

"Not bad amateurs" I said with a wink

"The only amateur here, is you" Glenn said to me

"Neither of y'all compare to me" Heath said cockily. We all laughed. My smile faded as we got back to business

"So, what do you two think?" I asked referring to the walker that we were gonna use as Gregory

"Maybe. If we, um.. cut the hair.. trim the beard. This dark?" Glenn asked

"We're gonna kill those people. Tonight" Heath said. We both nodded

"I've been lucky. I haven't had to do it before. But you two?" Heath asked

"I've been lucky too" Glenn said

"Man, I'm the only unlucky one.. I guess" I said

"You nervous?" Heath asked. I shook my head

"You ever seen something that, um.. afterwards, you.. you didn't want to sleep? You weren't hungry because when you close your eyes.. you could see it.. and when you try to eat.." Glenn trailed off. I nodded

"Yeah" Me and Heath both said

"Me too. Killing somebody is gotta be worse than that. It has to be" Glenn said. Personally, I couldn't relate

"So, yeah.. I'm nervous. The whole thing. The whole thing" Glenn said

"It will be over soon enough" I said. We picked up the chosen walker and brought it back to the others. We all gathered around as Rick spoke to us. Abraham and Gabriel took the walker body from us

"We're gonna take a look around. Try to get a feel for how many people are in there. We like how it looks. We go in. Couple hours before dawn. Guards outside will be tired. Everyone inside will be sleeping. We don't like what we see, we head back, make a new plan. They don't know who we are. We'll keep Jesus in the shadows. This is how we eat. This is how we eat. Roll out at midnight" Rick said. I turned to Daryl who had a cigarette in his hand. He was sitting on the hood of one of our vehicles

"Hey, how are you feeling?" I asked him

"Fine" He said as he brought the cigarette to his mouth. I sighed as I took the cigarette from him and dropped it. Squishing it with the bottom of my shoe. Making sure it was burned out

"Man, what the hell?" Daryl asked. I looked at him

"Last thing I need is you getting hooked on those things. They're highly addictive.. nicotine is a bitch" I said. He scoffed

"Whatever" He muttered

—————

Andy had made the trade with the fake Gregory head. One of the men whistled a lullaby as the other guard went inside with the head. The minute the door closed, Daryl ran over and slit the man's throat. He then stabbed the man in the head. We all ran over. A couple guys went to hide the body. We all then hid as the door opened. A man had one of the Hilltop people

"Well, well, well. Look who it is" The man said before Michonne stabbed him in the back with her katana. He groaned in pain before collapsing. Rick quickly stabbed the man in the head and grabbed his keys. Me and Glenn went inside with our guns raised. Daryl holding the door open for us. Others followed behind us. Rick got in front and opened the door that lead to another room. Abraham took the lead and entered first. Sasha followed after. I followed the both of them. Breaking off from the main group. We went down a hallway with our guns raised. We came to a closed door. Sasha opened it and Abraham stormed in. Me and Sasha kept our guns aimed. She aimed in front and I aimed in the direction her back was facing. Abraham quickly came back out and we continued on

There was another door. I aimed my gun at it. Sasha tried to open it but couldn't. It was locked. She looked at us. She held her hand out. Abraham handed her a knife. She worked on getting the door open. Me and Abraham covered for her. Keeping watch. That's when the door opened. A different door. Abraham was stabbed so quickly in the arm. I ran over and slammed the man into the wall. He tried stabbing me with his knife but I grabbed his wrists and struggled as I used all my force to push him away. I kicked him in the nuts and he dropped the knife from shock. I was unaware that there was an alarm right next to us. He moved his arm up and quickly set it off

"You fucker" I muttered as I yanked him away from the wall and put him in a chokehold

"Abraham" Sasha said as she tossed him the knife. He caught it and ran over. Stabbing the man in the head. I let the man fall to the ground

"We're so fucked" I muttered. Others came out and began shooting at us. We took cover and quickly shot back. Gunshots could be heard from all over the compound as the alarm rang out. Abraham began using his gun to break the lock on the door. Me and Sasha covered him. I shot down a man. Abraham finally got the door open

—————

It was morning. Glenn and Heath had found the armory. We finally exited the compound. All of us grouped together. Some of the others got ready to leave in the RV. I was gonna stay back with Rick. Daryl walked up to me

"Why don't you head home.. go check up on Taylor and Lyra?" Daryl asked. I looked at him

"If you want me too, will you be all right?" I asked him. He scoffed playfully

"'Course I'll be" He said. I smiled

"Okay, I'll see you later" I said before walking over to the RV. Others got on and then it left

(2752 words)

Edited: 07/11/22