A loud knock on the door woke me. My eyes fluttered open and I sat up, quietly groaning in disappointment. To my luck, Daryl had already caught the door, his body blocking whoever the person on the other side. I groggily rubbed my eyes as they carried on their conversation without even noticing I was awake. While gathering up the bedsheets in my fists and holding them against my body in attempt to warm myself back up from the cold air nipping at my skin that drifted in through the window, Daryl shut the door. He turned around, his eyes falling on me. I could tell he was slightly startled by my sudden presence before him. I took in the small distinct crinkles on his face that seemed he was carefully expressing some sort of anger. Before I could ask if everything was alright, he spoke to me.

"We're headin' out," he muttered. I sighed as I rose from the bed and walked over to Daryl, putting my hands on his shoulders and lightly running them down his arms.

"I had a dream about this place; we were safe here. The Saviors were out looking for us and we were perfectly hidden here." I closed my eyes and sighed, a chill running through my body at the thought of Negan taking the two of us back into captivity. "I-I don't want them to find us again. He'd kill us both, I know it, Daryl."

"If they wanna take us, they'll have to go through the whole group first," he said, running his thumb across my arm.

"I think maybe you and I should stay here. The others can go," I proposed. He shook his head in disagreement and backed away from me, walking towards the door. "Daryl, please! I know I said I wasn't sure about this place, but I don't wanna run around outside the walls again. We're putting out lives at risk if we leave." Daryl stared me down.

"Time to go," he ignored me, his hand resting on the doorknob. I rolled my eyes, storming past him and making sure to bump into him on the way out. "Aften," Daryl angrily called down the hallway as I stomped towards the door. This time I ignored him. I could hear his footsteps quickening behind me while I turned the door handle. "Aften," he yelled as I swung the door open. Everyone who was already gathered at the bottom of the stairs stared at us awkwardly.

"We're fine," I said facetiously. Everyone casually brushed away the off-putting encounter and began to start forward towards the gates. I jogged down the stairs, jumping in line after them with Daryl trailing behind me. He was so flustered he almost ran into a group of joggers.

"This is life here," Ezekiel smiled down upon us as everyone stopped to observe the other members doing their everyday activities. "But it came at a cost. I wanted to expand and create more places like this. Men and women lost their limbs, children lost their parents because I sent them into battle when I didn't need to."

"This is different," Rick promised.

"I have to worry about my people," Ezekiel argued, angering Daryl even more than he already was before.

"You call yourself a damn king," he spat. "Ya sure as hell don't act like one." Ezekiel slowly stepped over to Daryl.

"All of this came at a cost," he repeated, pointing at some of the community members who were missing limbs. "Lives, arms, legs. The peace we have with the Saviors is uneasy but it is peace. I have to hold on to it." He turned his attention back to the whole group. "Although the Kingdom cannot grant you the aid you desire, the King is sympathetic to your plight. I offer our friends Daryl and Aften asylum for as long as they require it. They'll be safe here, as the Saviors do not set foot inside our walls."

"How long do you think that's gonna last," Daryl scoffed, trudging ahead of the group over to the gates. My rage began to boil once again. "Open it up," he shouted. "We're gone."

"You're not leaving," I bellowed in annoyance, sauntering over to his side. "And I'm not either."

"I'm not stayin' here," Daryl growled at me. I seized his wrist, gripping it tightly.

"We have to. It's the smartest play, you know it is. You just don't wanna admit it," I whispered in his ear, him relaxing at the sudden softness of my voice.

"Try to talk to Ezekiel." Rick appeared behind him, Daryl suddenly shooting him a glare. "Or stare him into submission, whatever it takes." He jokingly patted him on the shoulder. "We'll be back soon." Rick nodded at me. I faintly smiled at him as he turned his back to us and stepped out of the gates with the rest of the group, the loud metal doors slamming closed and kicking up dust.

"If Carol were here," Daryl began. "And she knew about Abraham and Glenn, she'd lead us right to them. We wouldn't even be here right now."

"We can't tell her," I said, my eyes still locked on the gates. "If we see her again, we can't tell her what happened." Footsteps crept up behind us. I turned around to see Richard with a sword and crossbow in his hands, a gun slung over his shoulder.

"These are for you." He thrust his hands out to us. "Morgan said you where a bowman." Richard's gaze shifted over to me. "Samurai."

"Why," Daryl questioned as he slowly grabbed the crossbow from his hand. I picked up the sword and admired the glinting of the silver. It was so clean I could see my reflection in it, every wave of my hair with every cut and freckle on my face.

"'Cause we want the same things." He lowered his voice. "I need your help." My eyes quickly flickered up to meet his. I stared at him in interest. Daryl held his crossbow, testing his aim for a brief moment before looking up at Richard.

"Show us the way." He flung his crossbow over his shoulder. Richard cautiously looked around at everyone that surrounded us before sneaking us out of the gates. We walked out alongside the road for a ways before veering off to hide behind a trailer. I felt uneasy about being out here.

"They ride this road," Richard said to us, setting down all the weapons we brought. "If we see cars, it's the Saviors. They come in packs of two or three." He stood back up with a gun. My heartbeat began to quicken. The Saviors? What if they saw us behind here? They very well knew who Daryl and I were. They'd kill us both. "I can't get them alone, that's why I brought you guys. I left a trail from here to the weapons cache I planted, to the cabin of someone Ezekiel cares about."

"Who's that," I wondered, my thumb tugging on the strap of my sheath that laid across my chest.

"Just some loner he met. Sometimes he brings them food."

"Why don't they live in the Kingdom?" I remember Morgan saying Carol left... maybe it was her. My eyes studied Richard's face. For some reason, he was becoming anxious at my questions.

"I don't know," he said defensively. "She lives out there, she'll die out there."

"It's a woman," Daryl piped up, his demeanor changing to defensive as well.

"Why does that matter? She's gonna die," Richard shrugged. "When the Saviors come and find out that their buddies are dead, they're gonna go to the weapons cache, and then to the cabin. They're gonna attack this woman."

"What's her name," I muttered curiously. I was beginning to become annoyed with him constantly dodging questions.

"Maybe they kill her, maybe they don't, but it's gonna show Ezekiel what he needs to do," he completely ignored us. "She's tough though."

"Just say her fucking name," I hollered angrily.

"Carol," he said, startled. My eyes widened, my heart skipping a beat. "I hoped you didn't know her but I didn't think you'd care! You know what needs to happen and maybe she'll live through it. This is how we can get rid of the Saviors, how we can all have a future. She's living out there on her own just waiting to die! If we don't do anything, a hell of a lot more people are gonna die: people who actually want to live," he frantically told us, eyeing up Daryl who was pacing back and forth with anger.

"You stay the hell away from her," I growled at him as the sound of engines started up the road.

"It's them," Richard mumbled. "Look, we can wait for things to go bad and lose people or we can do the hard thing and choose our fate for ourselves," he tried to reason. I wasn't gonna do this. There was no way.

"No," I shook my head in rebellion. Richard shrugged again.

"Sorry," he apologized, turning towards the road with his gun pointed at the approaching vehicles. Daryl sprinted past me, tackling Richard to the ground and knocking his gun out of his hands. His fist flew through the air, connecting with his nose. I watched the road as the Saviors' vehicles flew past us, Daryl throwing another punch. I drew my sword as Daryl and Richard scrambled towards their weapons. I pointed my sword at Richard, him pointing his gun at Daryl, and Daryl pointing his crossbow at Richard. "They're gonna ride back this way later. We'll have another chance but we're running out of time. If you and your people wanna move against the Saviors, you need to do it soon," he huffed, blood staining his face under his nose. "You need the Kingdom. What we have to do requires sacrifice one way or another. People like us, we've already lost so much."

"You don't know us," Daryl hissed. "You don't know me. There's no way in hell you know anything about her." He nodded towards me.

"I know that Carol living on her own like that, she might as well be dead right now," Richard repeated. I stared at him in disbelief. How the fuck could he say something like that? Daryl stormed over to him, sizing him up.

"If she gets hurt, if she dies, if she catches a fever, if she's taken out by a walker, if she gets hit by lightnin'," he growled. "If anythin', anythin' happens to her, I'll kill you. And if somethin' ends up happenin' to her in the process of all this," Daryl nodded towards me again. "I'll kill you a thousand times over."

"I would die for the Kingdom," Richard said with confidence.

"Yeah," I snarled at him. "Then why don't you?" I shoved my sword back in my sheath and turned on my heel, leaving the son of a bitch behind with Daryl not too far behind me.