DEAD OR ALIVE OR

Carl's death had hurt everyone. No one expected it. Carl was someone we all loved. And now, he was gone. Although everyone wanted to sit and sob, they knew they couldn't. They had to keep moving. They just had to. I had to get Lyra to safety, her and Judith. I managed to catch up with the others due to the fact Rick and Michonne stayed behind to make Carl's headstone

I held Lyra in my arms as Daryl led us. Taylor was holding Judith. A mask was on my face. We were under a bridge. A car had just driven over the bridge. Daryl motioned for us to come

"Best to stay off the roads, head into the woods right there. Come on. Go. Go" Daryl said as we all walked ahead. Suddenly a walker began growling. I turned as I backed up. Lyra began to whine as she stared at the walker. I pressed her head onto my shoulder as I tried to block her vision of the walker

"I got it" Tara said as she pushed the walker back

"I'll cover you" Dwight said. Tara pushed the walker over to Dwight. Dwight began struggling

"Tara!" Rosita yelled

"What? It got away. He can handle it" Tara said as Dwight threw the walker to the ground. Dwight stomped the walker's head in. Dwight held his arm as blood painted his hand

"See?" Tara asked

"Hey. Just keep 'em moving" Daryl said slightly pissed with Tara. Taylor looked at me

"Why would she do that?" Taylor asked. Although I was kind of pissed with Tara for doing that. I couldn't blame her for doing it. Dwight had done not only me dirty, but Tara and Daryl as well. He basically kidnapped me and Daryl. We helped him, only for him to steal our shit. Then, he kills Denise while Daryl was on a run with her, and finally. Dwight tortured Daryl when we were both at the Sanctuary. I understood why she did it, but this wasn't the time

"Because.. Dwight has done us dirty" I said

"I know that, but.. we can't afford someone dying right now" Taylor said

"I know we can't" I said

"Hey, we're gonna get through this" Lee said as we continued walking. As we walked through the woods. The visibility of the surrounding area went down as fog set in

"Hey, we should take a break. The others look like they're gonna collapse" Lee said worriedly. I stopped and turned to look at the others. They were on the verge of falling on their faces

"Okay, we'll take a break. Everyone rest" I said. The others sat down as they sighed in relief. If I was being honest, I was exhausted and wanted to sleep, but I couldn't. Whether it be from guilt or the fact that Lyra wasn't safe. It didn't matter in the end, because regardless, I couldn't sleep. I sat down and so did Taylor and Lee. Daryl, Tara, Dwight and Rosita continued on. Leaving us behind. Judith had begun to cry. Taylor began rocking her as she shushed Judith. It worked and Judith had calmed down. Lee stared at her with hearts in his eyes

"You'd make such a great mom" Lee said. I gave Lee a glare as Taylor became embarrassed by the comment

"Don't get any ideas. I'll have Daryl on your ass" I said. Lee had stilled, almost as if he had seen a ghost

"I meant nothing by that comment. Please don't kill me" Lee said. I looked unconvinced. Lee gulped. About 5 minutes had passed when Daryl, Rosita, Dwight and Tara had come back. Rosita had laid out a map

"Can you hold Lyra?" I asked Lee. He nodded and took her from me. I then got up and walked over to Daryl who was pointing at the map

"If they're smart, they'll cover all these passes between here and Hilltop" Daryl said

"We have to keep moving. We'll just have to risk it" Rosita said

"Maybe you don't have to. Negan won't send his people down into this stretch of swamp, not if he doesn't have to" Dwight said

"Yeah? How do you know that?" Tara asked

"Negan wanted to map the best routes with cover from the Sanctuary to the Hilltop. He- He decided the swamp was too dangerous. Didn't think it was worth the risk" Dwight said

"We should try it" I said. Tara looked at me shocked

"You aren't seriously gonna listen to him. It's too dangerous for the Saviors, so you're gonna send us? Are you kidding me?" Tara asked. Rosita scoffed

"They have us boxed in" Rosita said

"Tara has a point. Why should we trust him?" Tobin asked

"He could turn on us like he turned in his own people" Scott said

"I didn't just turn on 'em. I killed 'em. Daryl saw it. Rosita saw it. You saw it. But one of them got away.. So if they find me Negan puts my head on a pike. It's the same if they find Y/n. My head goes on a pike, and I'm sure hers will, too. I'm not working for them, and I'm not going back to them. I chose my side. This is it. I'm here to help you beat Negan. After that.. well, I know how it ends" Dwight said

"All right. We try the swamps" Daryl said before walking off. Everyone else got up and followed him. Lee walked over to me

"It's gonna get dangerous soon, can you hold onto her? I'll be protecting you, don't worry" I said

"It's no problem at all" Lee said. We all walked through the woods

"This works, it don't change shit" Daryl said to Dwight

"Everything I did, it was for Sherry. That doesn't make it right. Or something that should be forgiven. But it's the truth. Only one I got left. She's the one that let you out. Then she ran" Dwight said

"She's out here?" Daryl asked

"Somewhere. I hope" Dwight said. Daryl raised his hand, signaling us all to stop. Daryl walked closer to the swamp we had arrived at. A walker growled. Daryl quickly shot it with his crossbow. I pulled out my knife

"We have to be careful, but we can do this" Rosita said

"Push through. Clear a path for the others" Daryl said

"Count me in" Scott said

"Me, too" Taylor said as she handed Judith to Tobin

"If I can have the crossbow-" Dwight was cut off

"You can't. You'll stay right there" Daryl said as I walked over to him

"You coming?" Rosita asked Tara

"I'm gonna hang back, watch out for the group" Tara said

"Come on. Let's get this done" Daryl said. Me, Daryl, Rosita, Scott, Siddiq, and Taylor had grabbed sticks and then walked into the swamp. Water drenched my shoes and socks. Causing an uncomfortable feeling to arise. I had wet socks

Water sloshed as we walked through the disgusting water. Insects chirped. We used the sticks to help us walk. That's when I heard growling and grunting. I turned to see Rosita struggling with a walker. She quickly stabbed it in the head. I walked over to Siddiq and Daryl. They went through some leaves. I followed them only to see a bunch of walkers in the water

"Maybe we can go around?" Siddiq asked

"The shallowness spot's straight ahead. We clear 'em out. That's how we get our people through. You two ready?" Daryl asked

"Yeah" We both said as I fixed my grip on the knife. We began to kill walkers as we moved through. They growled at us, hungry to take a bite into our flesh. Walking in the muddy water was hell as we tried to quickly kill the walkers. My knife pierced the walkers as I swung at their heads. Eventually, we had dome it. We were able to clear all the walkers and make a path for us to get through. When we got back to everyone else. Rosita, Tara and Dwight were gone

"Taylor? Where's Rosita?" I asked

"She went after Tara and Dwight" Taylor said

"Tara.." Daryl muttered under his breath angrily. A couple minutes later, Rosita had come back with Tara. Just Tara. I could feel the anger radiating off of Daryl. He walked over to her and got all in her face

"I told you to wait! For all we know, he could be tellin' 'em everything! Negan could be on his way here right now!" Daryl yelled angrily. Taylor had jumped at her brother's outburst. I looked at her as she looked at the ground. I knew Daryl had a bad childhood, Taylor as well. Daryl told me about it. I knew the outburst was probably reminding her of things she didn't wish to remember. I grabbed her hand to comfort her

"He isn't. He won't. He led them away. They were coming right for us, and he saved us" Tara said

"She's right. He did. I saw it" Rosita said

"I don't give a damn what he did. He can stick with them, he can come back- hell, he can run. When I find that son of a bitch, I'm gonna-" Daryl cut himself off as Lyra began to cry. Judith was on the verge of tears. Lee and Tobin did their best to comfort the girls. Daryl then looked over at me. His eyes moved to Taylor. His eyes slightly widened. He then turned

"Come on" Daryl said. Everyone got up and we followed him

"Hey, you all right?" I asked Taylor

"Yeah.. I'm fine" She said as she let go of my hand and walked ahead of me. We all walked through the muddy waters

—————

The Hilltop gates opened as we approached. Daryl was holding Judith. I was holding Lyra as we all walked through the gates. Carol saw us and rushed over. Enid was right behind her. Carol had a smile on her face. I took off my mask as Maggie approached.

"Carl's gone" Daryl said. Carol's smile dropped as Enid covered her mouth. She began to cry. Others approached as Enid fell to her knees. Me and Siddiq looked at each other. Both of us feeling guilty. We all continued ahead. Maggie held Enid as she mourned. We walked inside of the building. Putting all of our stuff down. I let Lyra on the ground. She began to run around. I smiled as I watched. Though, I wonder how everyone would react when we won. I hoped they would forgive me

(1773 words)

Edited: 07/11/22

We're finally to the stuff that never got posted