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

S7Pt22 - What Became Of Sasha's Plan

Negan got out of his truck, and I cringed at the sight of him. He had his bat resting on his shoulder, and he had a crazed smile on his face. Daryl then saw Dwight appear, and we couldn't tell what side he was on right now.
Negan walked forwards and stood next to Eugene and patted his back, then looked back up at Rick.
"You ever hear the one about the stupid little prick named Rick who thought he knew shit but didn't know shit and got everyone that he gave a shit about killed?" Negan said and pointed straight up at Rick. "It's about you." He said and then paused. "You're all gonna want to put your guns down now."
"No one drops anything." Rick said and then looked over to the woman next to him. "We had a deal."
"Tamiel came for the boat things. Followed ones who took. Made a better deal." She said.
Rick just sighed and took a step back, still with the gun drawn on him.
"You push me, and you push me, and you push me Rick!" Negan said loudly. "You just tried to blow us up right? I mean, I get me, my people. But Eugene. He's one of yours."
"A small sacrifice for the greater good." I called out.
Negan smiled at the sound of my voice and finally made eye contact with me. He licked his lips and pointed his finger at me.
"Honey..." He pointed towards himself. "I am the greater good.
"Go to hell!" I spat at him.
"Already there Kell. We're already there! Thanks to Rick the Prick over here." Negan said, and then smiled at Eugene. "After what he did, he stepped up. You people... are animals. Universe gives you a sign and you just shove your finger right up it's ass."
Negan swung up his hand and flipped off Rick and then chuckled to himself.
"Dwight, Simon. Chop-chop." Negan then said.
Both of them listened and took off a tarp that covered a casket. We all thought the worse and waited anxiously as the two of them stood it up on the back of the truck.
I saw Rosita just rolled her eyes, and I never she already felt defeated. Negan then stepped up onto the platform and patted the casket.
"So you don't like Eugene anymore." Negan said. "You guys gotta like Sasha. I do too." He said, and then tapped on it with Lucille. "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 you could get complicated."
I saw in the corner of my eye, Carl slowly stood up and looked at the coffin in disbelief.
"See, I know there's a lot of firepower left in there Rick. So I'm gonna make this simple. I want all the guns you managed to scrape up. Yup, I know about those, too. I want every last grain of lemonade you got left. I want a person of your own choosing... for Lucille." Negan said and pointed at his bat.
He then touched his chest and laughed. "Daryl— ooh I got to get my Daryl back. I see you." He said and pointed at him.
"And Kell." He said and whistled after my name. "Kelley. Kelley. Kelley. I though we had something Kell. Even after the rape, we had a moment and you know that. We can make things work. You know we'd be unstoppable together..." Negan said, and then looked at Rick. "I get Kell back too, and her kids... Yeah, don't think I forgot about them."
I started shaking with rage and screamed at him. I lunged forwards and raised my rifle, but a Scavenger knocked it out of my hand and kicked me in the side. Two more grabbed me and held me down, and I screamed with anger.
"You sick fuck!" I yelled. "You fucking bastard! I hate you!"
One of them stepped on my metal cast and jerked my arm, making me cry out in pain. Daryl then jumped in and attacked one of the Scavengers, but two more pinned him on the ground next to me.
"I'll fucking kill you!" Daryl yelled as he got his face pushed into the ground.
We both thrashed around but the Scavengers just pinned us down harder. We finally stopped struggling and I was breathing heavily when the Scavengers pulled us up. I bent over in defeat and touched my forehead to my knees and cried. I slammed my cast onto the ground in frustration and Daryl kicked out at one of the Scavengers who turned around.
"Now that was cute." Negan said and looked at us. "Very touching. But Kell, you need to knock that shit off. Remember what I said... all in all, you don't listen, they will die. We don't want that now, so we?" Negan asked as he swung his bat around and turned his attention back to Rick. "I want all this shit now! Or Sasha dies, and then all of you. Probably." He said and smiled deviously. "Cmon Rick. Just because I brought her in a casket doesn't mean she has to leave in it."
Rick didn't say anything and Negan just sighed and rubbed his forehead. He then chuckled to himself and looked up at Rick again.
"You know what? You suck ass, Rick." Negan said and pointed Lucille at him. "You really do. I don't wanna have to kill her, but that's exactly what you're gonna make me do!"
"Let me see her." Rick told him.
"Oh." Negan said and quietly chuckled. "Alright. Just give me a second. I might have to get her up to speed. You can't hear shit inside this thing." He said.
Negan then smiled and tapped the casket again with his bat and stared at the casket. He then put his hand on the side and was ready to open it.
"Sash." He said. "You're not gonna believe this crap."
He then opened up the casket some, but it was flung open from the inside. We heard growling and that's when we saw her.
Sasha had turned into a walker inside the casket, and nobody knew what to do.
"Holy goddamn!" Negan yelled out.
Walker Sasha reached out for Negan and jumped on him, knocking him off the platform. Next thing I knew, Carl fired his gun at a Scavenger, and that led the rest of us to do so too. There was gunfire everywhere, and some of the Scavengers were turning into walkers. Rosita caught shot in the shoulder and flung herself against the wall. I reached out my hand and she grabbed it, and I dragged her away. We ran away into Alexandria, and she shot her pistol as I swiped and stabbed with my blade.
As I was running, I saw Carl laying flat on a platform and firing from above. I was worried for him, but he was holding his own. I saw Rick still at gunpoint with the leader of the Scavengers, but there was nothing I could do at this point to help him.
We kept on running and I managed to look back one more time, only to see the lady shoot Rick in the side. I gasped in shocked and she finished by kicking him over the edge.
"Goddamnit." I yelled out loud, my voice sounding quiet with all the gunfire.
We kept on running, killing every Savior and Scavenger we could find. Daryl ran forwards and used the rest of his ammo on a Savior, then took his gun and kept shooting. I followed him and we all hid behind a storage container. I leaned Rosita against the wall and she groaned in pain.
"You good?" I asked.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." She said and grabbed a rifle that was laying next to another dead Savior.
"Good." I said.
I then found a rifle and peeked out at the fight from around the corner. As much as I saw dead enemies, I also saw dead Alexandrians. There were some people I didn't know too well, but there was some I knew would watch the kids for me or would smiled at them from across the street.
But, that isn't what made me mad. Because in just a few seconds I saw Carl get surrounded by a group of 20 Saviors, and Negan's henchman, Simon, was one of them. He slowly lowered his rifle, and four guys grabbed him at once and dragged him away. We just watched, and also shot occasionally at a few walkers or enemies that spotted us, but we saw the Saviors make Carl kneel in the middle of an empty lot.
I then looked down the street, and the leader of the Scavengers was forcing Rick to walk down the street. He was limping and holding his side that was bleeding, and eventually was kneeling next to Carl.
Negan then appeared, and he was swinging his bat back and forth until he rested it on his shoulder. I was sidetracked watching them, until I felt hands on my from behind. I screamed and turned around, and a walker reached out to bite me. I held up my cast again and it bit onto the metal, and Daryl stabbed it in the head.
I caught my breath and Daryl put his hand on my shoulder.
"Good?" He asked quickly. "Good?"
"Good." I said and patted his shoulder back. "I'm good. Good."
Suddenly we heard a scream and all our eyes turned towards its direction. It came from the ledge of a building hidden from site by a huge oak tree, and I t was a women. Her body hit the ground and all noise stopped.
"Oh god..." I whispered. "Michonne was up there..." I thought.
I then took another second to look around, and it looked like most of the fire fight was over. The Saviors and Scavengers were walking around, trying the hands and feet of any Alexandrian they found.
Luckily, Daryl, myself, Rosita, Tara, and a few others were hidden from sight. We got together and tried to make a plan, but it didn't seem like anything was in our favor anymore.
I looked back down the street and caught a glimpse of Negan again, and he was pacing in front of Rick and Carl. He said something to Rick, who spat something back at him. Negan just shook his head and stood behind Carl, and raised his bat.
"No." I said to myself. I saw Negan begin his swing and then I screamed for Carl. "No!"
I bolted out from cover, and at the exact same moment a tiger jumped out of no where. It was Shiva, and she was mauling one of the Saviors. He was screaming and more gunfire started, but then I saw Ezekiel and the Kingdom run in, guns a blazing.
"End these Saviors and their accomplices!" Ezekiel yelled.
I saw people on horseback. I saw Morgan, and I even saw Carol. The Saviors started shooting back, but most of them ran from the tiger who was unstoppable. Rick grabbed Carl and they ran off to cover, but myself and Daryl and the rest of Alexandria ran back in.
"Alexandria will not fall, not on this day!" Ezekiel yelled as he fired his pistol.
We kept of firing, and I spotted a Savior about to shoot Rick. I raised my gun to fire at him, but another bullet already reached him. I looked over and saw Maggie, Enid, and Jesus, and a group from the Hilltop was with them.
"Phalanx out, third group, now!" Maggie ordered and shot two more Saviors.
"More up now!" Daryl yelled from the side. "We got your backs!"
Daryl and I then turned around together and fired at enemies behind us while the Hilltop advanced forwards. Rick found a gun, so did Carl, and they started advancing against the enemies too.
I spotted Negan and I aimed every bullet I could spare towards him. He yelled something out to someone and then ran, because Shiva jumped on a Savior right behind him.
The Scavengers fired a flare into the sky and threw out smoke bomb, and we could see figures running away into the distance. We then somehow gathered around Rick, and there Maggie found us too.
"They're falling back." Rick huffed.
"Eduardo, Bertie, between the houses. Cover the gate." Maggie ordered to her people as they ran by.
Jesus and Enid followed her out, and Daryl and I followed.
We then heard Ezekiel's voice shout across the street.
"Now we finish this!" He said.
I looked over to see Ezekiel leading a group of people towards the gates, and Carl and Rick were running with them.
"Come on!" I yelled and waved my hand.
I led us down the street and we met the rest of our fighters in the middle of Alexandria. One of Negan's trucks was speeding down the street and straight for the gate. Out of the window I spotted Negan flipping us off as he left.
We shot at the truck and tried to follow, but we were met by gunfire from the Scavengers. We all turned back and found some cover. They closed the gate and started turning back, hopping over the wall and disappearing. We shot at everyone we could. Daryl climbed to the top of one of the semi trucks and looked over the fence, and everything grew quiet.
"They're gone. They're all gone." He said.
I just sighed and bent over to catch my breath, and stood up and held my chest. I then waved at Daryl to come back down.
"Come on. We need to regroup." I said.
Within a small matter of time, all that was left of Alexandria, The Hilltop, and The Kingdom met in the center of the battlefield. Everyone was dead or put down, and we looked towards Rick, Maggie, and Ezekiel.
Rick gave us a speech about our strength and courage, and that we did the best we could today. He explained that he didn't know that the Scavengers would do that, and swore bitterness against them. Maggie pitched in, talking to her people, telling them to not let our losses make them lose hope, and that we have a fighting chance. The King praised his people and as soon as he spoke, his tiger ran to his side. At the end of their speeches, we were all able to go about our business and try to rebuild Alexandria. A few of us stayed behind once we realized that Rick and Maggie were still talking.
"Do you think Sasha did that herself?" Rick asked Maggie first.
"I don't know how, but I know she did." Maggie said sadly.
"She gave us a chance. You did." Rick then said. "You made the right decision to come."
"The decision was made a long time ago." Maggie said. "Before any of us knew each other. We were all strangers who just passed each other on the street before the world ended. And now we mean everything to each other."
I couldn't help but reach for Daryl's hand, and he took mine gladly and squeezed it. I squeezed his hand back and rested my head on his shoulder.
"You were in trouble. You were trapped. Glenn didn't know you, but he help you. He put himself in danger for you. He did that for many." Maggie said, and I saw her glancing at Carol, then Daryl, and then me. "And that started it all. From Atlanta, to my dad's farm, to the prison, to here... to this moment now. Not as strangers... as family... because Glenn chose to be there for you, that day, a long time ago. That wad the decision that changed everything. It started with both of you, and it just grew, all of us. To make that sacrifice for each other. To suffer. To stand. To grieve. To give. To love. To live. To fight for each other. Glenn made the decision, Rick. I was just following his lead."