We walked behind the fence.

Walkers were coming through the fire. Now they were burning walkers.

Daryl "We gotta jam 'em up."

We were giving our best but it was hard since everything was on fire.

Alden and Earl were in charge of the catapults.

Earl yelled "Take that, you bastards! "

Daryl" It's workin'. They're slowin' down."

Whisperers were hiding with the walkers. Damn it.

The mansion was on fire.

They closed the gate but it's not gonna hold for long.

every walked on this side of the wall was dead. It was quiet for a second. And we all were able to take a deep breath.

Suddenly there was an explosion on the side of the wall.

Daryl "Wall's down. Follow me."

We all rushed after Daryl. Walkers were coming in.

We all did our best to kill them.

Morning.

We had all had kinda gotten separated as we fled from Hilltop. Magna had survived and showed up last.

Rosita, Daryl, Jerry, some others and i were on our way back to the meeting spot.

Enough time had passed so normally this place would be safe now.

Rosita "Nabila's been asking about her kids. You sure Ezekiel has them? "

Daryl "They should be at the rendezvous."

At the cabin

We walked to the cabin and a walker walked out. Jerry killed it.

Daryl rushed inside and i followed him.

This place was empty.

Me "Daryl"

We walked out.

Rosita "This is the spot, right? Yeah. "

Nabila sobbed out " My babies? Where are my babies?! Where are my babies? No. Where are my babies?"

Jerry tried to calm her down " Nabila, they're with Ezekiel, all right? They're with the king, they're with the king"

Daryl "Come on, spread out. Come on, let's go."

At Hilltop.

Something underneath a piece of metal was moving.

Jerry rushed over to it.

Ezekiel was underneath it.

He climbed out "Jerry. The kids... Earl's got the kids!"

At a cabin.

Daryl, Jerry, Ezekiel and i were alone.

Daryl took his knife out and opened the door.

The kids ran out.

Melanie "Daryl! "

Jerry breathed out relieved "Hey, hi. "

I asked confused "

RJ rushed out and hugged me.

Me "hey, baby"

Then he hugged Daryl "Hi, buddy. "

I looked around confused " Is Judith in there? "

Daryl "Ken, wait for me"

I stepped inside "Judith?"

She was sitting there on the ground. A dead Earl was lying next to her.

Her knife was covered in blood.

I sighed and sat down next to her.

Daryl sat down on the other side of her.

Then we put our arms around her.

Her body relaxed a little.

At a clearing.

I looked at the head that was at my feet.

Alpha's walker head.

then i looked up at Negan "took you long enough"

He smirked.

A few weeks earlier. At Negan's cell

Negan "shit. Well, as I live and breathe. I figured you'd be Gabey, coming down to give me my last rites. "

Me "You want forgiveness? "

Negan " I done what I done. I ain't getting on my knees about it."

Me " So what do you want? "

Negan "A T-bone, beer, maybe a scoop of rocky road - maybe getting buried inside you again."

I rolled my eyes annoyed.

Negan " Matters to you what I want? "

Me "What if you didn't have to die? "

Negan stood up and walked to the cell bars " Didn't know you had a say on the kangaroo council deciding my fate."

I nodded "i gave my vote. Besides that, I'm not here for the council. "

Negan nodded "I'm getting that. What I don't get is coming down here and dealing with me when, seems to me, you oughta be lining up the ol' Skin Queen in your crosshairs. "

Me " Why do you think am i here?"

Negan smirked "Damn, wifey"

Me "So you in or out? "

Negan"i knew i married a bad-ass. What happens if I muff it, too? Could make things a helluva lot worse for every man, woman, and child behind these walls. And fdespite what people may think of me, I am absolutely not down with that."

I nodded "i know. But I need this done. And that'll help every man, woman, and child here. "

Negan " And what do I get out of it? "

Me "You've been eating whatever shit we throw your way, hoping that one day, they'll all forget. But they won't. Not unless you do something to make them forget. So you bring me Alpha's head, and that's what the people will remember you for. I'll make sure of it."

Negan " I have your word? "

I nodded "Yes"

Flashback End.

Now. At a clearing.

We were at the hill.

I put Alpha's head on the pike.

Negan " Is this what you wanted, wifey?"

I nodded.

Negan " All right. What do you, uh... what do you say we get movin'? Alexandria. Our deal. Let's start spreading the news."

I snapped at him " What took you so damn long? "

Negan "What took me so long? Doing your dirty work? "

He scoffed " I don't know. I guess I wanted to get out of there with my head still attached. shit like that takes time. "

Me "Hilltop fell"

Negan " It's done. All right? I held up my end. Now I am asking you to hold up yours. Just walk me through those gates so I can open up a new chapter in the Book of Negan. "

I looked down.

Negan "I go back there without you, there is a noose around my neck the second I step foot in there. "

Me "You're free now, Negan. Do whatever the hell you want. "

Negan "well, i wanna go back"

I nodded "okay. Then we'll go back"

At a cabin.

Negan looked at me "wait here"

I nodded.

Negan stepped inside "Hey, kiddo. Sorry ab..."

Then he groaned "shit!"

Daryl yelled " Where's Alpha?!"

I grimaced "what?"

Negan " Look, whatever Lydia told you... "

Daryl was aiming the crossbow at Negan's head "Where is she?! "

He hadn't noticed me yet.

Negan "She is dead. She is dead. I killed her. "

Daryl "You liar. "

Negan shook his head "I am not lying. I have somethin' in my pocket. It's not a weapon. I am slowly gonna reach for it. "

He took Alpha's mask out of her pocket.

Daryl" Her mask ain't her head."

Negan " Oh, I know. I am getting to that. "

Daryl "Well, then, get to it. "

Negan "The whole reason I threw in with them... was so I could get close enough to Alpha to slit her throat. Now, you talk about "silencing the Whisperers." I silenced the Alpha. Why the hell else you think that your girlfriend let me outta that cell? "

Then he looked outside at me.

Daryl followed his gaze and his face dropped when he saw me standing there.

In the woods.

Daryl had tied Negan's head together. He was so pissed at me.

We were on our way to show him Alpha's head.

Negan " This whole "follow the leader" routine, it's kinda déjà vu for me. It's the same way it went down with Alpha."

Daryl didn't say anything.

Negan "You know, I get it. All right, you're pissed your girl didn't let you in on the plan. "

Daryl "Nobody asked you."

Negan " Look, I'm pissed, too. Lone wolves, they're not thinking about the pack."

Daryl "Maybe I'm pissed 'cause of Hilltop. Whole bunch of children almost died 'cause of you. "

Negan stopped and looked at him.

Daryl shoved him a little "Keep walking."

Night. At the hill.

The head was gone.

Negan " It was right here. I swear to God, it was on that spike. Look, we, uh... We... We -come on, Kendall, tell him"

Daryl aimed the crossbow at Negan.

Negan "Oh, come on, man. We're talking about Lydia here. Why would I stash her out in banjo country unless the whole point was to keep her safe? Unless the whole freakin' point was just to use her as bait so I could get Alpha alone? "

Daryk "You sure took your sweet-ass time, though, didn't you?"

Negan " What is with you guys thinking I didn't do it fast enough? You didn't kill her. I did. It took a minute. I had to get her to trust me. Because I wasn't on some half-cocked suicide mission. "

I eyed him "you liked it. That's what you took so long"

Negan looked at me.

Suddenly we heard a gun cock.

Three Whisperers were there.

Whisperer aimed at Daryl who dropped the crossbow and raised his hands.

Then he aimed at me and i dropped the blades.

Whisperer looked at Negan "Alpha's dead. Because of you. We kneel...to the new Alpha. "

They went down on their knees.

Daryl dropped his hand annoyed as fuck.

I rolled my eyes, groaning annoyed "oh hell no"

It had started to rain. a little dramatic, ain't it?

---

Negan laughed "Oh. Sorry, man. I am, uh... just savoring the moment. Oh. Taking my sweet-ass time. All right, fellas, first order of business. Wait, wait, wait, wait. One damn minute. I'm supposed to be the Alpha, right? I mean, the only reason I'm asking is I'm a little bit confused. If I'm the Alpha, why is someone who is most definitely not the Alpha holding the badass shotgun?"

The guy handed him the gun. Daryl's hands were tied together. so were mine.

Negan nodded " See, that is what I'm talkin' about. That feels good. Right? I mean, I never had a kid of my own, but if I did, I would imagine this is what it's like holding your baby for the very first time, except for it turns out, my baby can kill people by spitting bullets at 'em. Daryl, kneel to the Alpha. "

They tried to force Daryl to kneel but Daryl pushed them off.

Negan eyed him.

Daryl went down to his knees.

Negan grabbed me and pulled me to him.

He put a hand on my cheek while aiming the gun at Dary "Damn. It is starting to get real now, ain't it? wifey, you were right when you said that I liked it. The fact is... I like it a lot."

I growled at him.

Daryl " You should probably shoot me. "

Negan chuckled "Don't threaten me with a good time. "

Suddenly he shot one of the Whisperers.

The gun was empty.

Negan killed the other two with the knife.

Daryl stood up " Untie me, asshole. "

Negan chuckled.

Morning. At a clearing.

We were sitting on a fallen tree branch. we were taking a break.

Negan " You know, I'm... I'm not bullshitting you."

Daryl " I know. "

Negan "When I said that I liked it... that wasn't part of the act."

I nodded.

Daryl " Yeah. I know. "

Negan "You know, when your people locked me up, I lost everything. You know, seven years spent staring out that little window... man, it sucked. Even though my wifey, here, showed up occasionally..and we had our fun...."

Daryl cleared his throat.

Negan nodded "i knew damn well she'd never be mine. no matter how many times she came to me. For some reason all she wanted was you. It all got so bad that even my memories had bars painted on 'em. So when Alpha took me in... I admit it, I... I liked it. It was..."

He sighed " It was nice feeling like I mattered again, like I was respected. But she took it too far. You don't kill people that don't deserve it. And you never kill kids."

Daryl "Is that supposed to make me like you? "

Negan shook his head "No. "

Daryl nodded "Good. "

Negan joked a little "But what about my winning personality? "

Daryl rolled his eyes and walked away.

Negan looked at me, smirking.

I rolled my eyes annoyed "ugh, please, just shut up"