'body full of scars, face full of tats.' - 21 savage, metro boomin

the engines shut off and eugene ungainly climbs out of the truck. "hello. i come salved with the hope that is my dropped knowledge that you heed. options are 0 to none." he announces over the megaphone. he is dressed in dark clothes mimicking the other saviors. his voice trembles as he speaks aloud. "compliance and fealty are your only escape. bottom-lining it, you may thrive or you may die. i sincerely wish for the former for everyone's sake." he adds and i look down at rosita who is shaking her head with tears in her eyes. eugene was her friend, she's known him almost since the beginning. as big as a pain in the ass he was she cared about him and now he turns around and stabs all of us in the back.

"the jig is up and is in full effect. will you comply, rick?" eugene asks and rick stands there quietly for a moment. "where's negan?" he asks. "i'm negan." eugene answers setting down the megaphone. all hope i had that eugene would snap out of this and come back to us has faded. he chose himself over us and that is the exact same as if he were to come in here and kill us all himself. he is a coward and a traitor and if we need to kill every last one of them, including him, to win this- so i can kill negan, then so be it. he decided his fate just now and there is no going back. 

i turn and look at rosita who is looking back at me with her thumb on the remote to blow up the cars next to the saviors. i look back then look at rick. he sighs and slightly nods his head. carl leans in closer to me coving my head and his as rosita presses the button. rick dives down to the ground to protect him from the blast. well, the expected blast. nothing happens. rosita looks up at us and rick gets a panicked look. he reaches for his gun and the garbage people turn and point their guns at us. i look at carl then over at rick. jadis has her gun inches away from his head. the locks click on the gate and brion opens it letting in the saviors. i watch as negan gets out of his truck wearing that stupid red scarf he wore that night. my body shakes as carl grips my wrist at my attempt to stand up.

behind him, dwight climbs out. i wanted to kill them both. eugene climbs off of the truck and negan pats his back. i watch dwight look up at me. i stare into his eyes as my face starts to twitch with anger. the saviors open up the cars we had planted the bombs in and they disarm them, putting them in the back of their trucks. "you ever hear the one about the stupid little prick named rick who thought he knew shit but didn't know shit and got everybody he gave a shit about killed? it's about you." negan grins pointing up at rick. "you all are gonna wanna put those guns down now." negan adds. "no one drops anything." rick orders. "we had a deal." he adds turning to jadis. 

"tamiel came for the boat things. followed the ones who took. made a better deal." she explains. "you push me, and you push me, and you push me, rick. you just tried to blow us up, again?" he asks. "i mean, i get me and my people, but eugene? he's one of yours. and after what he did- he stepped up. you people..are animals. the universe gives you a sign, and you just shove your finger right up its ass." he says flipping us off. "dwight, simon, chop-chop." negan says and dwight and simon climb onto the truck and unhook something covered with a tarp. they rip the tarp off revealing a coffin. my heart thuds while my mind races with scenarios. does he have someone in there, is he going to put someone in there, is he gonna make us put someone in there?

"so, you don't like eugene anymore. you guys gotta like sasha. i do, too." he says knocking on the coffin that stands up straight next to him. "got her right here packaged for your convenience, alive and well. now, i brought her so i wouldn't have to kill all of you, and not killing all of you could get complicated. see, i know there's a lot of firepower left in there, rick. so i'm gonna make this real simple. i want all the guns you managed to scrape up. yep, i know about those, too. i want every last grain of lemonade left. i want a person of her choosing..for Lucille." he says pointing to me. "hey there doll face." he adds with a twisted grin. 

carl stands up with me holding one hand on my gun and the other in my hand. "daryl- i gotta get me my daryl back. i see you. and the pool table and all the pool cues and chalk. and i want it now or sasha dies, and then all of you. probably. c'mon, rick. just because i brought her in a casket doesn't mean she has to leave in it." he says with a sigh. "you know what? you suck ass, rick. you really do. i don't want to have to kill her, but that's exactly what you're gonna make me do." negan argues. "let me see her." rick says. "all right, give me a second. i might have to get her up to speed. you can't hear shit in this thing." he says banging on the coffin with his bat. "sash. you're not gonna believe this crap." he says opening the coffin door. 

the door creaks open and sasha's reanimated corpse leaps out ontop of negan. a little smirk appears on my face as i watch him struggle under her grip. he groans and growls as she snaps at his face. her eyes are glossed over and her skin showing more blue. carl quickly rips the gun out of my belt and shoots the garbage people behind us then the rest of the group catches on killing more as well. i take my gun back from carl and start shooting down below at the saviors. one shoots up at me and i catch a bullet in my shoulder, flinging me back a bit. i tumble over and carl crouches down next to me. 

"where'd they hit you?" he asks taking off my jacket as i groan from the pain. "shit." he mumbles ripping off a piece of his shirt and holding it right under my collarbone. i wince as he rests his hand on it. "i'm okay." i say replacing his hand with mine. "i'll be fine, it's just my shoulder." i add not sure who i'm trying to convince, me or him. he nods and hands me my guns again before getting up and shooting some more. "go! go!" someone shouts and some of our people run down the street. i see tara helping rostia limp down the road. i scan down below for negan but he's out of sight. a gunshot rings through my ears and i turn to see jadis shoot rick in the hip. she kicks him off the platform and carl and i jump off on the other side hoping to stay clear of her. 

"he'll be okay." i say to carl and he nods. we both look down the street firing at garbage people and saviors chasing after our people. alexandrians lay dead in the street as we run, others sit on the floor with guns pointed at them. "there are too many of them." carl says as we dodge garbage people. "just the two i wanted to see!" i hear negan say from behind us. "my little bonnie and clyde freaky duo, come!" negan says as two saviors strip us of our weapons. i clench my fists at the sight of him. every bone in my body regrets not killing him that day at the sanctuary.

"let's catch up." negan says pushing me to my knees then does the same to carl. after a few seconds pass rick walks up with jadis holding a gun to his head. she pokes his gunshot and he gasps as he stumbles over. saviors crowd around us and i can't help but stare at dwight. he hides his ashamed face in his long bleach-blonde hair. he can't look me in the eye. "hello again." negan says to rick. jadis drags rick over to us and makes him kneel on my right, putting me in the middle between carl and rick. the community roars with shouts and screams from people down the streets and up the blocks. 

"well, shit, rick. you just couldn't stick with us, huh? you had to go with these filthy garbage people." negan says and jadis gives him a look. "no offense." he adds. "deal is for 12, yes?" jadis asks. "10. people are a resource." negan answers. "12." jadis repeats. gunfire fills the background. negan and jadis stare at each other for a moment before jadis breaks and agrees to 10. not sure why she wants 10 of us, probably for that weird sculpting shit. negan chuckles and looks down at rick. "rick, this is just gonna make you sad. broken. you're gonna wish you were dead. i like having fun. i do. but maybe you people think that the guy that did what he did to your friends wasn't me like that was some put-on like i'm not the guy with the bat- i'm just a guy that makes spaghetti dinner." he says.

rick looks up at him with a stern face as a tear rolls off his face. "oh. oh, shit. maybe this is on me. maybe this is all on me. i gotta make it right. i guess i gotta start all over again. i gotta tell you, rick, if i had a kid, i'd want him to be exactly like these two, which makes this so much harder." negan says and i know he won't kill carl or myself, he said it. he told me he wouldn't, that he can't, right? "go to hell." i say through my teeth. "isa. it is over. why don't you look up the street there and take it all in?" he says and just as he finishes his sentence a woman screaming catches our attention. i see someone fall from a building where michonne was posted at. the screaming ends as the person falls onto the concrete. 

my heart skips a beat and i try to move my head a little to see more, telling myself it wasn't her. "oh. wow. you just lost somebody important to you right now, like right now. jesus that is timing. well, rick..you chose this. i truly don't know what more i could've done to warn you. and this isn't a warning. this is punishment. i'm gonna kill carl now." negan says. "no!" i shout jumping up and striking negan across the face, opening up his stitches from the cut i had given him before. a few saviors grab me and hold me back and all the memories flood back. my heart starts to rce as he rubs his jaw. "i'm gonna make it one hard swing, try to do it in one because i like you and him. just put that in your brains. i'm gonna kill carl, then lucille here, she's gonna take your hands, isa." negan taunts. 

"you can take my hands. you can kill everyone right in front of me. i told you already- i'm gonna kill you and i'm gonna take my time. i'm gonna enjoy it. maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow..but nothing is going to change that. you're all already dead." i say getting in his face as he sits crouched in front of me. his face twitches a bit as he looks into my eyes. his cheek bleeds down his chin, staining his white t-shirt, hiding under his leather jacket. after a moment he smiles and starts to chuckle. "damn. wow, kid. okay." he whispers then stands up. he walks behind all of us and my chest starts to race again. 

"you said i could do it." negan says taking carl's hat off. "i love you, isa." carl says before closing his eyes and scrunching up his face as he waits for the bat to hit him. negan lifts the bat up but before he can swing the roar of a tiger boom through the street. shiva jumps on a savior close to negan and he drops his bat as maggie and some fighters from hilltop join ezekiel and the fighters from the kingdom come storming through the streets, shooting down saviors and garbage people. people shout as they run through the streets causing chaos all around. negan and dwight run off a maggie rushes up to us, gun in hand. i stand up and hug her tight. "here." she says handing carl, rick, and i guns. "end these saviors and their accomplices. alexandria will not fall, not today!" the king shouts as he shoots at the running saviors. 

maggie and ezekiel continue up the street with the others, taking out saviors. i watch as rick starts limping his way down the street. i turn and pick up carl's hat, setting it on his head. "i didn't think he'd actually do it." i say hugging him. it takes a second for him to wrap his arms around my waist but when he does comfort eases my body. "i love that damn tiger." he says with a chuckle. i smile and then we rush down the street following rick as he limps in the distance. we run as fast as we can to the building where the woman fell. "it's not her." i say inspecting the dead body smushed on the hot concrete. the three of us sweep the stories looking for michonne. we reach the top floor and carl swings open the door as we look for hidden saviors or garbage people.

soft banging leads us to the balcony as michonne sits there beaten to a pulp. gunfire rings all around us and the distant ordering of our people calms my beating heart. michonne looks unrecognisable as i crouch down in front of her. "hey." i say quietly reaching out and touching her arm. she flinches and opens her swollen eyes. "you're okay." i say. rick slides down the wall next to her and holds her beside him. "oh, you're alive." he says breathing heavily. she attempts to smile as she reaches out and hold onto him. she struggles to speak but eventually gets some words out. "we're the ones who live." she mumbles and i smile as i recall i said those words to rick that night i convinced him to fight. "we are. we will." rick answers hugging her as she cries. 

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.