A Survivor's Diary of the Apocalypse (TWD/Daryl Dixon)

S7Pt18 - The Cellar

"What?!" I thought out loud.
The clanging continued and I saw Enid running up to us.
"Enid!" I called out. "Where's Maggie?"
"Come on!" She called out and waved her hand frantically.
Daryl grabbed his knife and jumped off the table and we both followed Enid. We saw Maggie rush out of the main building's front doors, and she ran down the porch to us. At this time, we heard the trucks stop just outside the gates.
"We'll never make it in time." Maggie said.
"Come on." Enid said, dragging Maggie along and we followed her behind the building.
At that moment, the gates opened and the trucks drove in, but they didn't see us. Enid showed us a set of doors to a cellar underneath the house. I helped her throw open the doors and Maggie ran in followed by Daryl, then me.
"Just stay down there. I'll keep them away." Enid said and then looked up. "They aren't the same ones who came to Alexandria."
I nodded and looked back at her from the bottom of the stairs. "Thank you."
She nodded at me and closed the cellar doors, leaving us in almost complete darkness. Maggie led the way and opened a wooden door that entered into the pantry where they kept all their boxed food and crops. There was only a small stream of light that showed us the outside, and Daryl was constantly looking outside it. Maggie began hiding herself behind a shelf and some boxes, and I followed her.
We could hear the Saviors footsteps in the house above us, and I paid attention to a group I heard walking around the house.
"Daryl." I called out in a hush voice, and he looked back at me, then back outside. "Damn it Daryl." I called out, still in a hushed but hurried voice.
"Daryl." Maggie called out the same.
Daryl looked back at her and grunted before backing away from the door and hiding behind the shelves with us. He squeezed in next to me, and I used my cast to push some heavy boxes on the shelf in front of us to cover our faces.
We were all being quiet, carefully listening to what was happening outside. I noticed the group shuffled away and couldn't tell if anyone was outside until I heard Enid and she seemed a little out of breath.
"Hi." I heard her call out. "Uh, I've got fresh veggies—"
"Stop." I heard a single Savior say. "They're vegetables. Use the whole word. We have time."
"Uh... okay." Enid said. "I have these vegetables they told me to bring over, and uh the basket's pretty heavy. For me, I mean." She said and slightly chuckled. "Probably not you... Uh, here. Load them in the truck, and if you meet me by the garden, I can get you the rest—"
"Stop." The Savior said. "I don't know who you think I am or who we are. Load them yourself, I'm busy."
I heard Enid grunt and something thudded to the ground.
"Oh. Sorry. I'm sorry." Enid said quickly.
I saw Maggie's face tense and she was worried about what was happening to Enid right now.
"Girl, pick that shit up right now and scram." The Savior raised his voice. "... and I'll take that."
It was all quiet for a moment.
"Now. Don't make me cut it off you, girl." The Savior threatened.
It was quiet again for a long pause, and the next thing we heard was the doors to the cellar open. We heard footsteps echo into the cellar and we pushed ourselves up against the back of the wall. Daryl had his knife out, ready to strike, and just in case I had my blade too.
The second door to the cellar creaked open and a fair amount of light entered the room. Maggie ducked down a little more and I hid my body behind a stack of boxes. I noticed this man had a knife on his belt, and judging my Maggie's defensive body language, it was most likely Enid's.
The Saviors walked inside towards a table covered in sacks of potatoes and peppers. He sniffed the food before putting it back down. He then turned around and saw a box at the door. The Savior picked it up and left the room, not even noticing us at all. His footsteps echoed out of the cellar and up the stairs, and I saw Daryl's body lean forwards, and I knew what he was going to do.
I wrapped my arm around his waist and put my hand on his forehead, slowly pulling him back. He raised his knife still, but I shook my head and backed up against the wall quietly.
We watched as the Savior put the box down, close the cellar door, and walked away. We were left again in darkness and I slowly pulled my arms away from Daryl.
Daryl walked forwards to stare at the Savior as he walked away and closed the outside set of cellar doors.
Maggie stepped out of cover too and sighed at Daryl. "You were gonna kill that guy." She said.
"He was gonna find us." Daryl lied.
"He wasn't, and he didn't." Maggie said.
"He deserved to die." Daryl then said gruffly.
Maggie then step forwards towards Daryl who didn't turn around. "Ever since you got here, you haven't said a word to me." Maggie said. "Would you look at me? Please?"
Daryl bowed his head and shuffled in place. He quietly sniffled before looking back at Maggie.
"Daryl..." Maggie said and stood in front of him.
"I'm sorry." Daryl said, his voice starting to break. "I'm sorry."
Daryl was choking back his tears and sniffled again, looking at Maggie with sad eyes.
"It wasn't your fault." Maggie said.
Daryl just started nodding his head in guilt. "It was." He sniffled.
"No." Maggie said. "It wasn't. You're one of the good things in this world. That's what Glenn thought. And he would know, cause he was one of the good things too."
Maggie let out a shuddered breath and composed herself before managing a friendly smile for Daryl, and he wiped his eyes.
"And, uh... I wanted to kill that guy, too. I want to string them all up and watch them die... but we have to win." Maggie said.
She opened her arms and gave Daryl a hug, and he stood in her grasp and put his head on her shoulder.
"Help me win." She then said.
Daryl raised his head and nodded, and Maggie let him go. I then stepped forwards and rubbed Daryl's back, and he took another deep breath. Daryl started picking his nails again and I sighed. I reached out my hand to grab his, and he stopped right away.
"We'll win." I said and kissed his cheek. "We will."

~~~~~~~~~~

We heard footsteps running over to the cellar doors, and they loudly creaked over.
"Come on. They're gone." We heard Enid call out.
We sighed with relief and all exited the cellar. The sun hit my skin and I covered my eyes from the bright light.
"What did they take?" Maggie asked Enid.
"Doctor Carson." Enid said.
"Damn it." Maggie said and held her stomach.
I put my hand on her shoulder to comfort her and she kindly smiled at me, but I saw the worry in her eyes.
"Maggie, I have to tell you something." Enid said, and I saw her glancing at me.
"What is it?" Maggie asked.
Enid paused and ran her hand through her hair anxiously, not sure of how Maggie would react to the news.
"Rosita was here—" she began to say.
"When?" Maggie interrupted, and walked forwards to try and find her.
"She left." Enid then said, and we all looked at her. "Sasha went with her."
Maggie looked at her confused and Daryl tilted his head at Enid.
"Where is Sasha and Rosita?" He asked her, tightening his grip on his crossbow.
Enid looked at me for help and I cleared my throat. They saw we both knew something and waited for us to speak. Enid nodded first, and then I nodded, and we looked at Daryl and Maggie.
"Negan's." We both said at the same time.
Maggie covered her mouth in shock and Daryl just stared at me because I said Negan's name.
"It was Rosita's plan. She was going with or without Sasha." I said and sighed. "We couldn't stop them from going."
Maggie just nodded. "They going to kill him?" She asked.
"Yes." I said, but shook my head.
"They aren't coming back." Maggie then said sadly.
"Probably not." I said sadly, too.
Daryl walked away and then looked back at me. "Come on." He called out.
I just looked at him and he held out his hand. "Come on. We're going." He said.
I nodded at Daryl and walked towards him, grabbing his hand once I got to his side. I grabbed our bags from inside the trailer and met Daryl outside. We walked towards the gate when Maggie called out to us.
"Be safe." She said and slowly waved at us.
I smiled and nodded back at her. "You too."

~~~~~~~~~~

We followed the main road to Negan's compound and snuck around the backside. It was dusk out and it was getting harder to see by the minute.
As soon as I saw the familiar building, and the fences, and heard the moans of the walkers, I felt my anxiety rising. I saw the spot where me and Daryl escaped and where I beat that man to death.
Daryl grabbed my hand and walked me up a small hill that got us at a safer distance from the compound, and we watched from above. We didn't see Rosita or Sasha yet, and oddly we didn't see much guards out either.
I then saw Eugene in the distance standing next to a Savior, and he was holding some type of jar. Eugene was talking to him, and the Savior nodded while Eugene pointed inside.
"Did you see him much?" Daryl asked, nodding towards Eugene who seemed to be bossing them around. "What happened to him?" He wondered out loud.
"It's pretty easy to guess." I said and Daryl just looked at me, and I looked him back in the eyes. "He's Negan now..." I said sadly.
Daryl just looked at me and he sighed with defeat. It hurt us to know that Negan successfully turned one of our own against us, and of course it was the smartest one of us.
We were then distracted when we heard footsteps and frantic breathing. We looked down into a side alley and saw Rosita running away. She stopped to catch her breath and I saw she bent over and cried in defeat.
We walked out of cover and she soon saw us standing there. She took a deep breath and sniffled, wiping her tears and shaking her arms.
We didn't see Sasha with her and I knew what that meant. We kept looking at Rosita and I waved my arm at her to come to us, but she shook her head. She let out another sob and ran away into the darkness, and I couldn't see where she went.
"Damn it." I said and kicked the dirt. "Sasha's gone."
Daryl slowly nodded his head and took one last look at the Compound.
"We need to go back." Daryl then said, and I heard the fury in his voice. "Rick has to know. We have to get ready."
I nodded and agreed with Daryl without hesitation.
"Home?" I asked, making sure we were thinking the same thing, and we were.
"Yeah." He nodded and looked at me. "We're going home."